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Number One 




PRICE FIFTEEN CENTS, 




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2Dl)e Kitjfrstoe JLitcrature §>erif« 



EVANGELINE 



/ 



HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW 



WITH NOTES 

AND 

A BIOGRAPHICAL SliETCH 







BOSTON 
HOUGHTON, IMIFFLIN AND COMPANY 

New York : 11 East Seventeenth Street 

1883 



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Copyright, 1867, 
Bt henry WADSWORTII LONGFELLOW. 

Copyright, 1879, 
By HOUGHTON, OSGOOD & CO. 

Copyright, 1882 and 1883, 
Bl HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. 



All rights reserved. 



The Riverside Press, Cambridge: 
Electrotyped and Printed by H. 0. Houghton & Co. 









HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

HENRY WADS WORTH LONGFELLOW was born in 
Portland, Maine, February 27, 1807. He was a 
classmate of Hawthorne at Bowdoin College, graduat- 
ing there in the class of 1825. He began the study 
of law in the office of his father, Hon. Stephen Long- 
fellow ; but receiving shortly the appointment of pro- 
fessor of modern languages at Bowdoin, he devoted 
himself after tliat to literature, and to teaching in con- 
nection with literature. Before beginning his work at 
Bowdoin he increased his qualifications by travel and 
study in Europe, where he stayed three years. Upon 
his return he gave his lectures on modern languages and 
literature at the college, and wrote occasionally for the 
North American Review and other periodicals. The 
first volume which he published was an Essay on the 
Moral and Devotional Poetry of Spain, accompanied 
by translations from Spanish verse. This was issued in 
1833, but has not been kept in print as a separate work. 
It appears as a chapter in Outre-Mer, a reflection of his 
European life and travel, the first of his prose-writings. 
In 1835 he was invited to succeed Mr. George Ticknor 
as professor of modern languages and literature at 
Harvard College, and again went to Europe for j^re- 



4 LONGFELLOW. 

paratory study, giving especial attention to Switzerland 
and the Scandinavian countries. He held his professor- 
ship until 1854, but continued to live in Cambridge until 
his death, March 24, 1882, occupying a house known 
from a former occupant as the Craigie House, and also 
as Washing-ton's headquarters, that general having 'so 
used it while organizing the army that held Boston in 
siege at the beginning of the Revolution. Everett, 
Sparks, and AYorcester, the lexicographer, at one time 
or another lived in this house, and here Longfellow 
wrote most of his works. In 1839 appeared Hyperion^ 
a Romance, which, with more narrative form than 
Outre-Mer, like that gave the results of a ^Doet's entrance 
into the riches of the Old World life. In the same year 
was published Voices of the Night, a little volume con- 
taining chiefly poems and translations which had been 
printed separately in jDeriodicals. The Psalm of Life, 
perhaps the best known of Longfellow's short poems, 
was in this volume, and here too were The Beleaguered 
City and Footsteps of Angels. Ballads and other 
Pnerns and Poems on Slavery appeared in 1842 ; The 
Spanish Student, a play in three acts, in 1843 ; The 
Belfry of Bruges and other Poems in 1846 ; Evangeline 
in 1847 ; Kavanagh, a Tale, in prose, in 1849. Beside 
the various volumes comprising short poems, the list of 
Mr. Longfellow's works includes The Golden Legend, 
The Song of Hiawatha, The Courtship of Miles Stand- 
ish, Tales of cc Wayside Lnn, The New England Trag- 
edies, and a translation oi Dante's Divina Commedia. 
Mr. Longfellow's literary life began in his college days, 
and he wrote poems almost to the day of his death. A 
classification of his poems and longer works would be 
an interesting task, and would help to disclose the wide 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 5 

range of his sympathy and taste ; a collection of the 
metres which he has used would show the versatility of 
his art, and similar studies would lead one to discover 
the many countries and ages to which he would go for 
subjects. It would not be difficult to gather from the 
volume of Longfellow's poems hints of personal ex- 
perience, that biography of the heart which is of more 
worth to us than any record, however full, of external 
change and adventure. Such hints may be found, for 
example, in the early lines. To the River Cliarles, which 
may be compared Avith his recent Three Friends of 
Mine, IV., V. ; in A Gleam of Sunshine, To a Child, 
The Day is Done, The Fire of Driftwood, Resignation, 
The Open Window, The Ladder of St. Augustine, My 
Lost Youth, The Children's Hour, Weariness, and 
other poems ; not that we are to take all sentiments and 
statements made in the first person as the poet's, for 
often the form of the poem is so far dramatic that the 
poet is assuming a character not necessarily his own, but 
the recurrence of certain strains, joined with personal 
allusions, helps one to penetrate the slight veil with 
which the poet, here as elsewhere, half conceals and 
half reveals himself. The friendly associations of the 
poet may also be discovered in several poems directly 
addressed to persons or distinctly allusive of them, and 
the reader will find it pleasant to construct the com- 
panionship of the poet out of such poems as The Herons 
of Elmivood, To William E. Channing, The Fiftieth 
Birthday of Agassiz, To Charles Sumner, the Prelude 
to Tales of a Wayside Inn, Haivthorne, and other 
poems. An interesting study of Mr. Longfellow's 
writings will be found in a paper by W. D. Howells, in 
the North American Review, vol. civ. 



EVANGELINE: A TALE OF ACADIE. 

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 

[The country now known as Nova Scotia, and called 
formerly Acadia by the French, was in the hands of the 
French and English by turns until the year 1713^ when, 
by the Peace of Utrecht, it was ceded by France to 
Great Britain, and has ever since remained in the posses- 
sion of the English. But in 1713 the inhabitants of the 
peninsula were mostly French farmers and fishermen, 
living about Minas Basin and on Annapolis River, and 
the English government exercised only a nominal con- 
trol over them. It was not till 1749 that the English 
themselves began to make settlements in the country, 
and that year they laid the foundations of the town of 
Halifax. A jealousy soon sprang up between the Eng- 
lish and French settlers, which was deepened by the 
great conflict which was imiDending between the two 
mother countries ; for the treaty of peace at Aix-la- 
Chapelle in 1748, which confirmed the English title to 
Nova Scotia, was scarcely more than a truce between 
the two powers which had been struggling for ascen- 
dency during the beginning of the century. The French 
engaged in a long controversy with the English respect- 
ing the boundaries of Acadie, which had been defined 
by the treaties in somewhat general terms, and in- 



EVANGELINE. 7 

trigues were carried on with the Indians, who were 
generally in sympathy with the French, for the annoy- 
ance of the English settlers. The Acadians were allied 
to the French by blood and by religion, but they claimed 
to have the rights of neutrals, and that these rights had 
been granted to them by previous English officers of the 
crown. The one point of special disj)ute was the oath 
of allegiance demanded of the Acadians by the English. 
This they refused to take, except in a form modified to 
excuse them from bearing arms against the French. 
The demand was repeatedly made, and evaded with con- 
stant ingenuity and persistency. Most of the Acadians 
were probably simple-minded and peaceful jDeople, who 
desired only to live undisturbed upon their farms ; but 
there were some restless spirits, especially among the 
young men, who comf)romised the reputation of the 
community, and all were very much under the influence 
of their priests, some of whom made no secret of their 
bitter hostility to the English, and of their determination 
to use every means to be rid of them. 

As the English interests grew and the critical relations 
between the two countries approached open warfare, the 
question of how to deal with the Acadian problem became 
the commanding one of the colony. There were some 
who coveted the rich farms of the Acadians ; there were 
some who were inspired by religious hatred ; but the 
prevailing spirit was one of fear for themselves from the 
near presence of a community which, calling itself neu- 
tral, might at any time offer a convenient ground for 
hostile attack. Yet to require these people to withdraw 
to Canada or Louisburg would be to strengthen the 
hands of the !^rench, and make these neutrals deter- 
mined enemies. The colony finally resolved, without 



8 LONGFELLOW. 

consulting the home government, to remove the Aca- 
dians to other parts of North America, distributing them 
through the colonies in such a way as to preclude any con- 
cert amongst the scattered families by which they should 
return to Acadia. To do this required quick and secret 
preparations. There were at the service of the English 
governor a number of New England troops, brought 
thither for the capture of the forts lying in the debatable 
land about the head of the Bay of Fundy. These were 
under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel John Wins- 
low, of Massachusetts, a great-grandson of Governor 
Edward Winslow, of Plymouth, and to this gentleman 
and CajDtain Alexander Murray was intrusted the task of 
removal. They were instructed to use stratagem, if 
possible, to bring together the various families, but to 
prevent any from escaping to the woods. On the 2d of 
September, 1755, Winslow issued a written order, ad- 
dressed to the inhabitants of Grand-Pre, Minas, River 
Canard, etc., " as well ancient as young men and lads," 
— a proclamation summoning all the males to attend 
him in the church at Grand-Pre on the 5th instant, to 
hear a communication which the governor had sent. 
As there had been negotiations respecting the oath of 
allegiance, and much discussion as to the withdrawal of 
the Acadians from the country, though none as to their 
removal and disj)ersal, it was understood that this was 
an important meeting, and upon the day named four 
hundred and eighteen men and boys assembled in the 
church. Winslow, attended by his officers and men, 
caused a guard to be placed round the church, and then 
announced to the people his majesty's decision that they 
were to be removed with their families out of the 
country. The church became at once a guard-house, 



EVANGELINE. 9 

and all the prisoners were under strict surveillance. At 
the same time similar plans had been carried out at Pisi- 
quid under Captain Murray, and less successfully at 
Chignecto. Meanwhile there were whispers of a rising 
among the prisoners, and although the transports which 
had been ordered from Boston had not yet arrived, it 
was determined to make use of the vessels which had 
conveyed the troops, and remove the men to these for 
safer keeping. This Avas done on the 10th of Septem- 
ber, and the men remained on the vessels in the harbor 
until the arrival of the transports, Avhen these were made 
use of, and about three thousand souls sent out of the 
country to North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Penn- 
sylvania, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. 
In the haste and confusion of sending them off, — a 
haste which was increased by the anxiety of the officers 
to be rid of the distasteful business, and a confusion 
which was greater from the difference of tongues, — 
many families were separated, and some at least never 
came together again. 

The story of Evangeline is the story of such a sep- 
aration. The removal of the Acadians was a blot upon 
the government of Nova Scotia and upon that of Great 
Britain, which never disowned the deed, although it 
was probably done without direct permission or com- 
mand ivova. England. It proved to be unnecessary, but 
it must also be remembered that to many men at that 
time the English power seemed trembling before France, 
and that the colony at Halifax regarded the act as one 
of self-preservation. 

The authorities for an historical inquiry into this sub- 
ject are best seen in a volume published by the gov- 
ernment of Nova Scotia at Halifax in 1869, entitled 



10 LONGFELLO W. 

Selections from the Public Documents of the Province 
of Nova Scotia, edited by Thomas B. Akins, D. C. L., 
Commissioner of Public Records ; and in a manuscript 
journal kept by Colonel Winslow, now in the cabinet of 
the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston. At the 
State House in Boston are two volumes of records, en- 
titled French Neutrals, which contain voluminous papers 
relating to the treatment of the Acadians who were sent 
to Massachusetts. Probably the work used by the poet 
in writing Evangeline was A71 Historical and Statis- 
tical Account of Nova Scotia, by Thomas C Halibur- 
ton, who is best known as the author of The Clock- 
Maker, or The Sayings and Doings of Samuel Slick 
of Slickville, a book which, written apparently to prick 
the Nova Scotians into more enterj)rise, was for a long 
while the chief representative of Yankee smartness. 
Judge Haliburton's history was published in 1829. A 
later history, which takes advantage more freely of his- 
torical documents, is A History of Nova Scotia, or 
Acadie, by Beamish Murdock, Esq., Q. C, Halifax, 
1866. Still more recent is a smaller, well-written work, 
entitled The History of Acadia from its First Discovery 
to its Surrender to England by the Treaty of Paris, by 
James Hannay, St. John, N. B., 1879. W. J. Anderson 
published a paper in the transactions of the Literary 
and Historical Society of Quebec, New Series, part 7, 
1870, entitled Evangeline and the Archives of Nova 
Scotia, in which he examines the poem by the light of 
the volume of Nova Scotia Archives, edited by T. B. 
Akins. The sketches of travellers in Nova Scotia, as 
Acadia, or a Month among the Blue Noses, by F. S. 
Cozzens, and Baddeck, by C. D. Warner, give the pres- 
ent appearance of the country and inhabitants. 



EVANGELINE. 11 

The measure of Evangeline is what is commonly 
known as English dactylic hexameter. The hexameter 
is the measure used by Homer in the Iliad and the 
Odyssey, and by Virgil in the ^neid, but the difference 
between the English language and the Latin or Greek 
is so great, especially when we consider that in English 
poetry every word must be accented according to its 
customary pronunciation, while in scanning Greek and 
Latin verse accent follows the quantity of the vowels, 
that in applying this term of hexameter to Evangeline 
it must not be suj^posed by the reader that he is get- 
ting the effect of Greek hexameters. It is the Greek 
hexameter translated into English use, and some have 
maintained that the verse of the Iliad is better rep- 
resented in the English by the trochaic measure of 
fifteen syllables, of which an excellent illustration is in 
Tennyson's Locksley Hall ; others have compared the 
Greek hexameter to the ballad metre of fourteen sylla- 
bles, used notably by Chapman in his translation of 
Homer's Iliad. The measure adopted by Mr. Long- 
fellow has never become very popular in English poetry, 
but has repeatedly been attempted by other poets. The 
reader will find the subject of hexameters discussed by 
Matthew Arnold in his lectures On Translating Homer ; 
by James Spedding in English Hexameters, in his recent 
volume, Reviews and Discussions, Literary, Political 
and Historical, not ■ relating to Bacon y and by John 
Stuart Blackie in Remarks on English Hexameters, 
contained in his volume Horce Hellenicce. 

The measure lends itself easily to the lingering mel- 
ancholy which marks the greater part of the poem, and 
the poet's fine sense of harmony between subject and 
form is rarely better shown than in this poem. The fall 



12 LONGFELLOW. 

of the verse at the end of the line and the sharp recov- 
ery at the beginning of the next will be snares to the 
reader, who must beware of a jerking style of delivery. 
The voice naturally seeks a rest in the middle of the 
line, and this rest, or esesural pause, should be carefully 
regarded ; a little practice will enable one to acquire 
that habit of reading the hexameter, which we may 
liken, roughly, to the climbing of a hill, resting a mo- 
ment on the summit, and then descending tho other 
side. The charm in reading Evangeline aloud, after a 
clear understanding of the sense, which is the essential 
in all good reading, is found in this gentle labor of the 
former half of the line, and gentle acceleration of the 
latter half.] 



This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines 
and the hemlocks. 

Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct 
in the twilight, 

Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and pro- 
phetic, 

Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their 
bosoms. 

1. A primeval forest is, strictly speaking, one which has never been dis- 
turbed by the axe. 

3. Druids vfere priests of the Celtic inhabitants of ancient Gaul and Britain. 
The name was probably of Celtic origin, but its form may have been deter- 
mined by the Greek word drus, an oak, since their places of worship were 
consecrated groves of oak. Perhaps the choice of the image was governed by 
the analogy of a religion and tribe that were to disappear before a stronger 
power. 

4. A poetical description of an ancient harper will be foimd in the Introduc- 
tion to the Lay of the Last Minstrel, by Sir Walter Scott. 



EVANGELINE, 13 

6 Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neigh- 
boring ocean 
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail 
of the forest. 

This is the forest primeval; but where are the 
hearts that beneath it 

Leaped like the roe, when he hears in the woodland 
the voice of the huntsman ? 

Where is the thatch-roofed village, the home of Aca- 
dian farmers, — 
10 Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the 
woodlands, 

Darkened by shadows of earth, but reflecting an image 
of heaven ? 

Waste are those pleasant farms, and the farmers for- 
ever departed ! 

Scattered like dust and leaves, when the mighty blasts 
of October 

Seize them, and whirl them aloft, and sprinkle them 
far o'er the ocean. 
15 Naught but tradition remains of the beautiful village 
of Grand-Pre. 

Ye who believe in affection that hopes, and endures, 

and is patient, 
Ye who believe in the beauty and strength of woman's 

devotion. 
List to the mournful tradition still sung by the pines 

of the forest ; 
List to a Tale of Love in Acadie, home of the happy. 

8. Observe how the tragedy of the story is anticipated by this picture of the 
startled roe. 
19. In the earliest records Acadie is called Cadie ; it afterwards was called 



14 LONGFELLO W. 

PAKT THE FIRST. 



20 In the Acadian land, on the shores of the Basin of 

Minas, 
Distant, secluded, still, the little village of Grand-Pre 
Lay in the fruitful valley. Vast meadows stretched 

to the eastward. 
Giving the village its name, and pasture to flocks 

without number. 
Dikes, that the hands of the farmers had raised with 

labor incessant, 
25 Shut out the turbulent tides ; but at stated seasons the 

flood-gates 
0]3ened, and welcomed the sea to wander at will o'er 

the meadows. 

Arcadia, Accadia, or L'Acadie. The name is probably a French adaptation of 
a word common among the Micmac Indians living there, signifying place or 
region, and used as an affix to other words as indicating the place where vari- 
ous tilings, as cranberries, eels, seals, were found in abundance. The French 
turned this Indian term into Cadie or Acadie ; the English into Quoddy, in 
which form it remains when applied to the Quoddy Indians, to Quoddy Head, 
the last point of the United States next to Acadia, and in the compound Pas- 
samaquoddy, or Pollock-Ground. 

21. Compare, for effect, the first line of Goldsmith's The Traveller. Grand- 
Pr6 will be found on the map as part of the township of Horton. 

24. The people of Acadia are mainly the descendants of the colonists who 
were brought out to La Have and Port Royal by Isaac de Razilly and Char- 
nisay between the years 1G33 and 1638. These colonists came from Rochelle, 
Saintonge, and Poitou, so that they were drawn from a very limited area on 
the west coast of France, covered by the modern departments of Vendue and 
Charente Inf^rieure. This circumstance had some influence on their mode of 
settling the lands of Acadia, for they came from a country of marshes, where 
the sea was kept out by artificial dikes, and they found in Acadia similar 
marshes, which they dealt with in the same way that they had been accus- 
tomed to practice in France. Hannay's History of Acadia, pp. 282, 283. An 
excellent account of dikes and the flooding of low lands, as practiced in Hol- 
land, may be found in A Farmer's Vacation, by George E. Waring, Jr. 



EVANGELINE. 15 

West and south there were fields of flax, and orchards 

and cornfields 
Spreading afar and unfenced o'er the plain ; and away 

to the northward 
Blomidon rose, and the forests old, and aloft on the 

mountains 
30 Sea-fogs pitched their tents, and mists from the 

mighty Atlantic 
Looked on the happy vaUey, but ne'er from their sta- 
tion descended. 
There, in the midst of its farms, reposed the Acadian 

village. 
Strongly built were the houses, with frames of oak 

and of hemlock, 
Such as the peasants of Normandy built in the reign 

of the Henries. 
35 Thatched were the roofs, with dormer-windows ; and 

gables projecting 
Over the basement below protected and shaded the 

doorway. 
There in the tranquil evenings of summer, when 

brightly the sunset 
Lighted the village street, and gilded the vanes on the 

chimneys. 
Matrons and maidens sat in snow-white caps and in 

kirtles 

29. Blom idon is a mountainous headland of red sandstone, surmounted by a 
perpendicular wall of basaltic trap, the whole about four hundred feet in 
height, at the entrance of the Basin of Minas. 

34. The characteristics of a Normandy village may be further learned by 
reference to a pleasant little sketch-book, publislied a few years since, caUed 
Normandy Picturesque, by Henry Blackburn, and to Through Normandy, by 
Katharine S. ISIacquoid. 

39. The term kirtle was sometimes applied to the jacket only, sometimes to 
the train or upper petticoat attached to it. A full kirtle was always both ; a 
half kirtle was a term applied to either. A man's jacket was sometimes called 
a kirtle ; here tlie reference is apparently to the full kirtle worn by women. 



16 LONGFELLO W. 

40 Scarlet and blue and green, with distaffs spinning the 

golden 
Flax for the gossiping looms, whose noisy shuttles 

within doors 
Minsfled their sound with the whir of the wheels and 

the songs of the maidens. 
Solemnly down the street came the parish priest, and 

the children 
Paused in their play to kiss the hand he extended to 

bless them. 
45 Reverend walked he among them ; and uj) rose ma- 
trons and maidens. 
Hailing his slow apjjroach with words of affectionate 

welcome. 
Then came the laborers home from the field, and se- 
renely the sun sank 
Down to his rest, and twilight prevailed. Anon from 

the belfry 
Softly the Angelus sounded, and over the roofs of the 

village 
50 Columns of pale blue smoke, like clouds of incense 

ascending, 
Rose from a hundred hearths, the homes of peace and 

contentment. 
Thus dwelt together in love these simple Acadian 

farmers, — 
Dwelt in the love of God and of man. Alike were 

they free from 
Fear, that reigns with the tyrant, and envy, the vice 

of republics. 

49. Angelus Domini is the full name given to the bell which, at morning, 
noon, and night, called the people to prayer, in commemoration of the visit of 
the angel of the Lord to the Virgin Mary. It was introduced into France in 
its modern form in the sixteenth century. 



EVANGELINE. 17 

55 Neither locks had they to their doors, nor bars to 

their windows ; 
But their dwellings were open as day and the hearts 

of the owners ; 
There the richest was poor, and the poorest lived in 

abundance. 

Somewhat apart from the village, and nearer the 

Basin of Minas, 
Benedict Bellefontaine, the wealthiest farmer of 

Grand-Pre, 
60 Dwelt on his goodly acres ; and with him, directing 

his household. 
Gentle Evangeline lived, his child, and the pride of 

the village. 
Stalworth and stately in form was the man of seventy 

winters ; 
Hearty and hale was he, an oak that is covered with 

snow-flakes ; 
White as the snow were his locks, and his cheeks as 

brown as the oak-leaves. 
65 Fair was she to behold, that maiden of seventeen 

summers ; 
Black were her eyes as the berry that gi'ows on the 

thorn by the wayside. 
Black, yet how softly they gleamed beneath the brown 

shad^ of her tresses ! 
Sweet was her breath as the breath of kine that feed 

in the meadows. 
When in the harvest heat she bore to the reapers at 

noontide 
70 Flagons of home-brewed ale, ah! fair in sooth was 

the maiden. 
2 



18 LONGFELLOW, 

Fairer was she when, on Sunday morn, while the bell 

from its turret 
Sprinkled with holy sounds the air, as the priest with 

his hyssop 
Sprinkles the congregation, and scatters blessings uj)on 

them, 
Down the long street she passed, with her chaplet of 

beads and her missal, 
75 Wearing her Norman cap and her kirtle of blue, and 

the ear-rings 
Brought in the olden time from France, and since, as 

an heirloom, 
Handed down from mother to child, through long 

generations. 
But a celestial brightness — a more ethereal beauty — 
Shone on her face and encircled her form, when, after 

confession, 
80 Homeward serenely she walked with God's benedic- 
tion upon her. 
When she had passed, it seemed like the ceasing of 

exquisite music. 

Firmly builded with rafters of oak, the house of 
the farmer 

Stood on the side of a hill commanding the sea ; and 
a shady 

Sycamore grew by the door, with a woodbine wreath- 
ing around it. 
85 Rudely carved was the porch, with seats beneath ; and 
a footpath 

Led through an orchard wide, and disappeared in the 
meadow. 

Under the sycamore-tree were hives overhung by a 
penthouse, 



EVANGELINE. 19 

Such as the traveller sees in regions remote by the 

roadside, 
Built o'er a box for the poor, or the blessed image of 

Mary. 
90 Farther down, on the slope of the hill, was the well 

with its moss-grown 
Bucket, fastened with iron, and near it a trough for 

the horses. 
Shielding the house from storms, on the north, were 

the barns and the farm-yard ; 
There stood the broad-wheeled wains and the antique 

ploughs and the harrows ; 
There were the folds for the sheep ; and there, in his 

feathered seraglio, 
95 Strutted the lordly turkey, and crowed the cock, with 

the selfsame 
Voice that in ages of old had startled the penitent 

Peter. 
Bursting with hay were the barns, themselves a vil- 
lage. H In each one 
Far o 'er the gable projected a roof of thatch ; and a 

staircase, 
Under the sheltering eaves, led up to the odorous 

corn-loft. 

93. The accent is on the first syllable of antique, where it remains in the 
form andc, which once had the same general meaning. 

99. Odorous. The accent here, as well as in line 403, is upon the first 
syllable, where it is commonly placed ; but IVIiltou, who of all poets had the 
most refined ear, writes 

"So from the root 
Springs lighter the green stalk, from thence the leaves 
More airy, last the bright consummate flower 
Spirits odorous breathes." 

Par. Lost, Book V., lines 479-482. 

But he also uses the more familiar accent in other passages, as "An amber 
ecent of odorous perfume." Samson Agonistes, 720. 



20 LONGFELLOW. 

100 There too the dove-cot stood, with its meek and inno- 
cent inmates 
Murmuring ever of love ; while above in the variant 

breezes 
Numberless noisy weathercocks rattled and sang of 
mutation. 

Thus, at peace with God and the world, the farmer 

of Grand-Pre 
Lived on his sunny farm, and Evangeline governed 

his household. 
105 Many a youth, as he knelt in the church and oj)ened 

his missal, 
Fixed his eyes upon her as the saint of his deepest 

devotion ; 
Hajjpy was he who might touch her hand or the hem 

of her garment ! 
Many a suitor came to her door, by the darkness be- 
friended, 
And, as he knocked and waited to hear the sound of 

her footsteps, 
110 Knew not which beat the louder, his heart or the 

knocker of iron ; 
Or, at the joyous feast of the Patron Saint of the 

village. 
Bolder grew, and pressed her hand in the dance as 

he whisjDered 
Hurried words of love, that seemed a part of the 

music. 
But among all who came young Gabriel only was 

welcome ; 
116 Gabriel Lajeunesse, the son of Basil the black- 
smith. 



EVANGELINE. 21 

Who was a mighty man in the village, and honored 

of all men ; 
For since the birth of time, throughout all ages and 

nations, 
Has the craft of the smith been held in repute by the 

f)eople. 
Basil was Benedict's friend. Their children from 

earliest childhood 
120 Grew up together as brother and sister ; and Father 

Fehcian, 
Priest and pedagogue both in the village, had taught 

them their letters 
Out of the selfsame book, with the hymns of the 

church and the plain-song. 
But when the hymn was sung, and the daily lesson 

com23leted, 
Swiftly they hurried away to the forge of Basil the 

blacksmith. 
125 There at the door they stood, with wondering eyes to 

behold him 
Take in his' leathern lap the hoof of the horse as a 

plaything, 
Nailing the shoe in its place ; while near him the tire 

of the cart-wheel 
Lay like a fiery snake, coiled round in a circle of 

cinders. 
Oft on autumnal eves, when without in the gathering 

darkness 
130 Bursting with light seemed the smithy, through 

every cranny and crevice. 
Warm by the forge within they watched the labor- 
ing bellows, 

122, The plain-song is a monotonic recitative of the collects. 



22 LONGFELLOW. 

And as its panting ceased, and tlie sparks expired in 

the ashes, 
Merrily laughed, and said they were nuns going into 

the chapel. 
Oft on sledges in winter, as swift as the swoop of the 

eagle, 
135 Down the hillside bounding, they glided away o'er 

the meadow. 
Oft in the barns they climbed to the populous nests 

on the rafters, 
Seeking with eager eyes that wondrous stone, which 

the swallow 
Brings from the shore of the sea to restore the sight 

of its fledglings ; 
Lucky was he who found that stone in the nest of 

the swallow! 
140 Thus passed a few swift years, and they no longer 

were children. 
He was a valiant youth, and his face, like the face 

of the morning. 
Gladdened the earth wit^ its light, and ripened 

thought into action. 
She was a woman now, with the heart and hopes of 

a woman. 
" Sunshine of Saint Eulalie " was she called ; for 

that was the sunshine 

133. The French have another saying similar to this, that they were guests 
going into the wedding. 

139. In Pluquet's Conies Popidnires we are told that if one of a swallow's 
young is blind the mothei- bird seeks on the shore of the ocean a little stone, 
with which she restores its sight ; and he adds, "He who is fortunate enough 
to find that stone in a swallow's nest holds a wonderful remedy." Pluquet's 
book treats of Norman superstitions and popular traits. 

144. Pluquet also gives this proverbial saying : — 

" Si le soleil rit le jour Sainte-Eulalie, 
II y aui'a pommes et cidre a folic. " 



EVANGELINE. 23 

145 Which, as the farmers believed, would load their 

orchards with apples ; 
She too would bring to her husband's house delight 

and abundance, 
Filling it full of love and the ruddy faces of children. 

II. 

Now had the season returned, when the nights grow 

colder and longer. 
And the retreating sun the sign of the Scorpion 

enters. 
150 Birds of passage sailed through the leaden air, from 

the ice-bound, 
Desolate northern bays to the shores of tropical 

islands. 
Harvests were gathered in ; and wild with the winds 

of September 
Wrestled the trees of the forest, as Jacob of old with 

the angel. 
All the signs foretold a winter long and inclement. 
155 Bees, with' prophetic instinct of want, had hoarded 

their honey 
Till the hives overflowed ; and the Indian hunters 

asserted 
Cold would the winter be, for thick was the fur of 

the foxes. 
Such was the advent of autumn. Then followed that 

beautiful season, 
Called by the pious Acadian peasants the Summer of 

All-Saints ! 

(If the sun shines on Saint Eulalie's day, there will be plenty of apples, and 
cider enough.) 
Saint Eulalie's day is the 12th of February. 
159, The Summer of All-Saints is our Indian Summer, All-Saints Day being 



24 LONGFELLOW. 

160 Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical 
light ; and the landscajDe 

Lay as if new-created in all the freshness of child- 
hood. 

Peace seemed to reign upon earth, and the restless 
heart of the ocean 

Was for a moment consoled. All sounds were in 
harmony blended. 

Voices of children at play, the crowing of cocks in 
the farm-yards, 
165 Whir of wings in the drowsy air, and the cooing of 
pigeons. 

All were subdued and low as the murmurs of love, 
and the great sun 

Looked with the eye of love through the golden va- 
pors around him ; 

While arrayed in its robes of russet and scarlet and 
yellow. 

Bright with the sheen of the dew, each glittering tree 
of the forest 
170 Flashed like the plane-tree the Persian adorned with 
mantles and jewels. 

Now recommenced the reign of rest and affection 
and stillness. 
pay with its burden and heat had departed, and twi- 
light descending 

Tfovember 1st. The French also give this season the name of Saint Martin's 
Summer, Saint Martin's Day being November 11th. 

170. Herodotus, in his account of Xerxes' expedition against Greece, tells 
of a beautiful plane-tree which Xerxes found, and was so enamored with 
that he dressed it as one might a woman, and placed it under tlie care of a 
guardsman (vii. 31). Another writer, iElian, improving on this, says he 
adorned it with a necklace and bracelets. 



EVANGELINE. 25 

Brought back the evening star to the sky, and the 
herds to the homestead. 

Pawing the ground they came, and resting their 
necks on each other, 
175 And with their nostrils distended inhaling the fresh- 
ness of evening. 

Foremost, bearing the bell, Evangeline's beautiful 
heifer, 

Proud of her snow-white hide, and the ribbon that 
waved from her collar. 

Quietly jjaced and slow, as if conscious of human 
affection. 

Then came the shepherd back with his bleating flocks 
from the seaside, 
180 Where was their favorite pasture. Behind them fol- 
lowed the watch-dog, 

Patient, full of importance, and grand in the pride of 
his instinct. 

Walking from side to side with a lordly air, and 
superbly 

Waving hib bushy tail, and urging forward the strag- 
glers ; 

Regent of flocks was he when the shepherd slept ; 
their protector, 
185 When from the forest at night, through the starry 
silence, the wolves howled. 

Late, with the rising moon, returned the wains from 
the marshes. 

Laden with briny hay, that filled the air with its 
odor. 

Cheerily neighed the steeds, with dew on their manes 
and their fetlocks. 

While aloft on their shoulders the wooden and pon- 
derous saddles, 



26 LONGFELLOW. 

190 Painted with brilliant dyes, and adorned with tassels 
of crimson, 

Nodded in bright array, like hollyhocks heavy with 
blossoms. 

Patiently stood the cows meanwhile, and yielded 
their udders 

Unto the milkmaid's hand ; whilst loud and in reg- 
ular cadence 

Into the sounding pails the foaming streamlets de- 
scended. 
19B Lowing of cattle and peals of laughter were heard 
in the farm-yard, 

Echoed back by the barns. Anon they sank into 
stillness ; 

Heavily closed, with a jarring sound, the valves of 
the barn-doors, 

Rattled the wooden bars, and all for a season was 
silent. 

In-doors, warm by the wide-mouthed firei)lace, idly 
the farmer 
200 Sat in his elbow-chair, and watched how the flames 
and the smoke-wreaths 

Struggled together like foes in a burning city. Be- 
hind him. 

Nodding and mocking along the wall with gestures 
fantastic, 

Darted his own huge shadow, and vanished away 
into darkness. 



193. There is a charming milkmaid's song in Tennyson's drama of Queen 
Mary, Act III., Scene 5, where the streaming of the milk iiato the sounding 
pails is caught in the tinkling A'5 of such lines as 

"When you came and kissed me milking the cows." 



EVANGELINE. 27 

Faces, clumsily carved in oak, on the back of his 

arm-chair 
205 Laughed in the flickering light, and the pewter plates 

on the dresser 
Caught and reflected the flame, as shields of armies 

the sunshine. 
Fragments of song the old man sang, and carols of 

Christmas, 
Such as at home, in the olden time, his fathers before 

him 
Sang in their Norman orchards and bright Burgun- 

dian vineyards. 
210 Close at her father's side was the gentle Evangeline 

seated, 
Spinning flax for the loom that stood in the corner 

behind her. 
Silent awhile were its treadles, at rest was its diligent 

shuttle, 
While the monotonous drone of the wheel, like the 

drone of a bagpipe. 
Followed the old man's song, and united the frag- 
ments together. 
215 As in a church, when the chant of the choir at in- 
tervals ceases, 
Footfalls are heard in the aisles, or words of the 

priest at the altar. 
So, in each pause of the song, with measured motion 

the clock clicked. 

Thus as they sat, there were footsteps heard, and, 
suddenly lifted. 
Sounded the wooden latch, and the door swung back 
on its hinges. 



28 LONGFELLOW. 

220 Benedict knew by the hob-nailed shoes it was Basil 

the blacksmith, 
And by her beating heart Evangeline knew who was 

with him. 
" Welcome ! " the farmer exclaimed, as their foot- 
steps paused on the threshold, 
" Welcome, Basil, my friend ! Come, take thy place 

on the settle 
Close by the chimney-side, which is always emj^ty 

without thee ; 
225 Take from the shelf overhead thy pipe and the box 

of tobacco ; 
Never so much thyself art thou as when, through the 

curling 
Smoke of the pijie or the forge, thy friendly and 

jovial face gleams 
Round and red as the harvest moon through the 

mist of the marshes." 
Then, with a smile of content, thus answered Basil 

the blacksmith, 
230 Taking with easy air the accustomed seat by the fire- 
side : — 
" Benedict Belief ontaine, thou hast ever thy jest and 

thy ballad ! 
Ever in cheerfullest mood art thou, when others are 

filled with 
Gloomy forebodings of ill, and see only ruin before 

them. 
Hapi^y art thou, as if every day thou hadst picked 

uj) a horseshoe." 
235 Pausing a moment, to take the pipe that Evangeline 

brought him. 
And with a coal from the embers had lighted, he 

slowly continued : — 



EVANGELINE. 29 

" Four clays now are passed since the English ships 

at their anchors 
Ride in the Gaspereau's mouth, with their cannon 

pointed against us. 
What their design may be is unknown ; but all are 

commanded 
240 On the morrow to meet in the church, where his 

Majesty's mandate 
Will be proclaimed as law in the land. Alas ! in the 

mean time 
IMany surmises of evil alarm the hearts of the peo- 
ple." 
Then made answer the farmer : — " Perhaps some 

friendlier purpose 
Brings these ships to our shores. Perhaps the har- 
vests in England 
245 By untimely rains or untimelier heat have been 

blighted, 
And from our bursting barns they would feed their 

cattle and children." 
*' Not so ihinketh the folk in the village," said 

warmly the blacksmith. 
Shaking his head as in doubt ; then, heaving a sigh, 

he continued : — 
" Louisburg is not forgotten, nor Beau Sejour, nor 

Port Royal. 

239. The text of Colonel Winslow's proclamation will be found in Halibur- 
ton, i. 175. 

249. Louisburg, on Cape Breton, was built by the French as a military and 
naval station early in the eigliteenth century, but was taken by an expedition 
from Massachusetts under General Pepperell in 1745. It was restored by Eng- 
land to France in the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, and recaptured by the Eng- 
lish in 1757. Beau Sejour was a French fort upon the neck of land connecting 
Acadia with the main-land which had just been captured by Winslow's forces. 
Port Royal, afterward called Annapolis Royal, at the outlet of Annapolis 
River into the Bay of Fnndy, had been disputed ground, being occupied al- 
ternately by French and English, but iu 1710 was attacked by an expedition 



30 LONGFELLOW. 

250 Many already have fled to the forest, and hirk on its 

outskirts, 
Waiting with anxious hearts the dubious fate of to- 
morrow. 
Arms have been taken from us, and warUke weapons 

of all kinds ; 
Nothing is left but the blacksmith's sledge and the 

scythe of the mower." 
Then with a pleasant smile made answer the jovial 

farmer : — 
255 '•' Safer are we unarmed, in the midst of our flocks 

and our cornfields. 
Safer within these peaceful dikes, besieged by the 

-ocean. 
Than our fathers in forts, besieged by the enemy's 

cannon. 
Fear no evil, my friend, and to-night may no shadow 

of sorrow 
Fall on this house and hearth ; for this is the night 

of the contract. 
260 Built are the house and the barn. The merry lads of 

the village 
Strongly have built them and well ; and, breaking the 

glebe round about them. 
Filled the barn with hay, and the house with food 

for a twelvemonth. 
Rene Leblanc will be here anon, with his papers and 

inkhorn. 
Shall we not then be glad, and rejoice in the joy of 

our children ? " 
265 As apart by the window she stood, with her hand in 

her lover's, 

from New England, and after tliat held by the English government and made 
a fortified place. 



EVANGELINE. 31 

Blushing Evangeline heard the words that her father 

had spoken, 
And, as they died on his lips, the worthy notary 

entered. 

III. 

Bent like a laboring oar, that toils in the surf of 
the ocean, 

Bent, but not broken, by age was the form of the 
notary public ; 
270 Shocks of yellow hair, like the silken floss of the 
maize, hung 

Over his shoulders ; his forehead was high ; and 
glasses with horn bows 

Sat astride on his nose, with a look of wisdom su- 
pernal. 

Father of twenty children was he, and more than a 
hundred 

Children's children rode on his knee, and heard his 
great watch tick. 
275 Four long 'years in the times of the war had he lan- 
guished a captive. 

Suffering much in an old French fort as the friend 
of the English. 

Now, though warier grown, without all guile or sus- 
picion, 

2G7. A notarii is an officer authorized to attest contracts or writings of any 
kind. His authority varies in different countries ; in France he is the neces- 
sary maker of all contracts where the subject-matter exceeds 150 francs, and 
his instruments, which ai-e preserved and registered by himself, are the orig- 
inals, the parties preserving only copies. 

275. King George's War, which broke out in 1744 in Cape Breton, in an at- 
tack by the French upon an English garrison, and closed with the peace of 
Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 ; or, the reference may possibly be to Queen Anne's 
war, 1702-1713, when the French aided the Indians in their warfare with the 
colonists. 



32 LONGFELLO W. 

Ripe in wisdom was he, but patient, and simple, and 
childlike. 

He was beloved by all, and most of all by the chil- 
dren ; 
280 For he told them tales of the Lonp-garou in the 
forest, 

And of the goblin that came in the night to water 
the horses, 

And of the white Letiche, the ghost of a child who 
unchristened 

Died, and was doomed to hamit unseen the chambers 
of children ; 

And how on Christmas eve the oxen talked in the 
stable, 
285 And how the fever was cured by a spider shut up in 
a nutshell, 

And of the marvellous powers of four-leaved clover 
and horseshoes. 

With whatsoever else was writ in the lore of the 
village. 

Then up rose from his seat by the fireside Basil the 
blacksmith, 

Knocked from his pipe the ashes, and slowly extend- 
ing his right hand, 

280. The Loup-gnrou, or were-wolf, is, according to an old superstition es- 
pecially prevalent in France, a man with power to turn himself into a wolf, 
which he does that he may devour children. In later times the superstition 
passed into the more innocent one of men having a power to charm wolves. 

282. Pluquet relates this superstition, and conjectures that the white, fleet 
ermine gave rise to it. 

284. A belief still lingers among the peasantry of England, as well as on the 
Continent, that at midnight, on Christmas eve, the cattle in the stalls fall 
down on their knees in adoration of the infant Saviour, as the old legend 
says was done in the stable at Bethlehem. 

285. In like manner a popular superstition prevailed in England that ague 
could be cured by sealing a spider in a goose-quill and hanging it about the 
ueck. 



EVANGELINE, 33 

290 " Father Leblanc," he exclaimed, " thou hast heard 

the talk in the village, 
And, perchance, canst tell us some news of these 

ships and their errand." 
Then with modest demeanor made answer the notary 

public, — 
" Gossip enough have I heard, in sooth, yet am never 

the wiser ; 
And what their errand may he I know no better than 

others. 
296 Yet am I not of those who imagine some evil inten- 
tion 
Brings them here, for we are at peace ; and why 

then molest us ? " 
" God's name ! " shouted the hasty and somewhat 

irascible blacksmith ; 
" Must we in all things look for the how, and the 

why, and the wherefore ? 
Daiiy injustice is done, and might is the right of the 

strongest 1 " 
800 But, without heeding his warmth, continued the no- 
tary public, — 
" Man is unjust, but God is just ; and finally justice 
Triumphs ; and well I remember a story, that often 

consoled me. 
When as a captive I lay in the old French fort at 

Port Roy ah" 
This was the old man's favorite tale, and he loved to 

repeat it 
305 When his neighbors complained that any injustice 

was done them. 

302. This is an old Florentine story ; in an altered form it is the theme of 
Rossini's opera of La Gazza Ladra. 
3 



34 LONGFELLOW. 

" Once in an ancient city, whose name I no longer 
remember, 

Raised aloft on a column, a brazen statue of Justice 

Stood in the pftblic square, upholding the scales in its 
left hand, 

And in its right a sword, as an emblem that justice 
presided 
310 Over the laws of the land, and the hearts and homes 
of the people. 

Even the birds had built their nests in the scales of 
the balance. 

Having no fear of the sword that flashed in the sun- 
shine above them. 

But in the course of time the laws of the land were 
corrupted ; 

Might took the place of right, and the weak were 
oppressed, and the mighty 
316 Ruled with an iron rod. Then it chanced in a noble- 
man's palace 

That a necklace of pearls was lost, and erelong a 
suspicion 

Fell on an orphan girl who lived as maid in the 
household. 

She, after form of trial condemned to die on the 
scaffold. 

Patiently met her doom at the foot of the statue of 
Justice. 
320 As to her Father in heaven her innocent spirit as- 
cended, 

Lo ! o'er the city a tempest rose ; and the bolts of 
the thunder 

Smote the statue of bronze, and hurled in wrath from 
its left hand 



EVANGELINE. 35 

Down on the pavement below the clattering scales of 

the balance, 
And in the hollow thereof was found the nest of a 

magpie, 
325 Into whose clay-built walls the necklace of pearls was 
I inwoven." 
Silenced, but not convinced, when the story was 

ended, the blacksmith 
Stood like a man who fain would speak, but findeth 

no lano'iiao-e ; 
All his thoughts were congealed into lines on his face, 

as the vapors 
Freeze in fantastic shapes on the window-panes in 

the winter. 

330 Then Evangeline lighted the brazen lamp on the 

table. 
Filled, till it overflowed, the pewter tankard with 

home-brewed 
Nut-brown ale, that was famed for its strength in the 

village of Grand-Prc ; 
While from his pocket the notary drew his papers 

and inkhorn. 
Wrote with a steady hand the date and the age of 

the parties, 
335 Naming the dower of the bride in flocks of sheep 

and in cattle. 
Orderly all things proceeded, and duly and well were 

completed. 
And the great seal of the law was set like a sun on 

the margin. 
Then from his leathern pouch the farmer threw on 

the table 



36 LONGFELLO W. 

Three times the old man's fee in solid pieces of 
silver ; 
340 And the notary rising, and blessing the bride and the 
bridegroom, 

Lifted aloft the tankard of ale and drank to their 
welfare. 

Wiping the foam from his lip, he solemnly bowed 
and departed, 

Wliile in silence the others sat and mused by the fire- 
side, 

Till Evangeline brought the draught-board out of its 
corner. 
346 Soon was the game begun. In friendly contention 
the old men 

Laughed at each lucky hit, or unsuccessful manoeu- 
vre, 

Laughed when a man was crowned, or a breach was 
made in the king-row. 

Meanwhile apart, in the twilight gloom of a window's 
embrasure. 

Sat the lovers and whispered together, beholding the 
moon rise 
350 Over the pallid sea and the silvery mist of the mead- 
ows. 

Silently one by one, in the infinite meadows of 
heaven, 

Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the 
angels. 

Thus was the evening passed. Anon the bell from 
the belfry 

344. The word draughts is derived from the circumstance of drawing the 
men from one square to another. 



EVANGELINE. 37 

Rang out the hour of nine, the village curfew, and 

straightway 
355 Rose the guests and departed ; and silence reigned in 

the household. 
Many a farewell word and sweet good-night on the 

door-step 
Lingered long in Evangeline's heart, and filled it 

with gladness. 
Carefully then were covered the embers that glowed 

on the hearth-stone. 
And on the oaken stairs resounded the tread of the 

farmer. 
360 Soon with a soundless step the foot of Evangeline 

followed. 
Up the staircase moved a luminous space in the dark- 
ness, 
Lighted less by the lamp than the shining face of the 

maiden. 
Silent she passed through the hall, and entered the 

door of her chamber. 
Simple that chamber was, with its curtains of white, 

and its clothes-press 
365 Ample and high, on whose spacious shelves were 

carefully folded 
Linen and woollen stuffs, by the hand of Evangeline 

woven. 
This was the precious dower she would bring to her 

husband in marriage, 

354. Curfew is a corruption of coiivre-Jeu, or cover fire. In the Middle Ages, 
when police patrol at night was almost unknown, it was attempted to lessen 
the chances of crime by making it an offence against the laws to be found in 
the streets in the night, and the curfew bell was tolled, at various hours, ac- 
cording to the custom of the place, from seven to nine o'clock in the evening. 
It warned honest people to lock their doors, cover their fires, and go to bed. 
Tlie custom still lingers in many places, even in America, of ringing a bell at 
nine o'clock in the evening. 



38 LONGFELLO W. 

Better than flocks and herds, being proofs of her 

skill as a housewife. 
Soon she extinguished her lamp, for the mellow and 

radiant moonlight 
370 Streamed through the windows, and lighted the room, 

till the heart of the maiden 
Swelled and obeyed its power, like the tremulous 

tides of the ocean. 
All! she was fair, exceeding fair to behold, as she 

stood wdth 
Naked snow-white feet on the gleaming floor of her 

chamber ! 
Little she dreamed tliat below, among the trees of 

the orchard, 
375 Waited h§r lover and watched for the gleam of her 

lamp and her shadow. 
Yet were her thoughts of liim, and at times a feeling 

of sadness 
Passed o'er her soul, as the sailing shade of clouds in 

the moonlight 
Flitted across the floor and darkened the room for a 

moment. 
And, as she gazed from the window, she saw serenely 

the moon pass 
380 Forth from the folds of a cloud, and one star follow 

her footsteps, 
As out of Abraham's tent young Ishmael wandered 

with Hagar 

IV. 

Pleasantly rose next morn the sun on the village of 

Grand-Pre. 
Pleasantly gleamed in the soft, sweet air the Basin 

of Minas, 



EVANGELINE. 39 

Where the ships, with their wavering shadows, were 

riding at anchor. 
385 Life had long been astir in the village, and clamorous 

labor 
Knocked with its hundred hands at the golden gates 

of the morning. 
Now from the country around, from the farms and 

neighboring hamlets, 
Came in their holiday dresses the blithe Acadian 

peasants. 
Many a glad good-morrow and jocund laugh from 

the young folk 
390 Made the bright air brighter, as up from the numer- 
ous meadows, 
Where no path could be seen but the track of wheels 

in the greensward, 
Group after group appeared, and joined, or passed 

on the highway. 
Long ere noon, in the village all sounds of labor were 

silenced. 
Thronged 'were the streets with people ; and noisy 

groups at the house-doors 
395 Sat in the cheerful sun, and rejoiced and gossiped 

together. 
Every house was an inn, where all were welcomed 

and feasted ; 

39G. " Real misery was wholly unknown, and benevolence anticipated the 
demands of poverty. Every misfortune was relieved as it were before it could 
be felt, without ostentation on the one hand, and vvithoixt meanness on the 
other. It was, in short, a society of brethren, every individual of which was 
equally ready to give and to receive what he thought the common right of 
mankind." From tlie Abbe Raynal's account of the Acadians. The Abbe Guil- 
laume Thomas Francis Raynal was a French writer (1711-179G), who published 
A Philosophical History of the Settlements and Trade of the Euroj)eans in the 
East and West Indies, in which he included also some account of Canada and 
Nova Scotia. His picture of life among the Acadians, somewhat highly col- 



40 LONGFELLOW. 

For with this simple people, who lived like brothers 
together, 

All things were held in common, and what one had 
was another's. 

Yet under Benedict's roof hospitality seemed more 
abundant : 
400 For Evangeline stood among the guests of her father ; 

Bright was her face with smiles, and words of wel- 
come and gladness 

Fell from her beautiful lips, and blessed the cup as 
she gave it. 

Under the open sky, in the odorous air of the 
orchard, 

Stript of its golden fruit, was spread the feast of be- 
trothal. 
405 There in the shade of the porch were the j^riest and 
the notary seated ; 

There good Benedict sat, and sturdy Basil the black- 
smith. 

Not far withdrawn from these, by the cider-press and 
the beehives, 

Michael the fiddler was placed, with the gayest of 
hearts and of waistcoats. 

Shadow and light from the leaves alternately played 
on his snow-white 
410 Hair, as it waved in the wind ; and the jolly face of 
the fiddler 

Glowed like a living coal when the ashes are blown 
from the embers. 

Gayly the old man sang to the vibrant sound of his 



ored, is the source from which after wTiters have drawn their knowledge of 
Acadian manners. 



EVANGELINE. 41 

Tous les Boiirgeois de Chartres, and Le Carillon de 

Dunkerrpie, 
And anon witR his wooden shoes beat time to the 

music. 
415 Merrily, merrily whirled the wheels of the dizzying 

dances 
Under the orchard-trees and down the path to the 

meadows ; 
Old folk and young together, and children mingled 

among them. 
Fairest of all the maids was Evangeline, Benedict's 

daughter ! 
Noblest of all the youths was Gabriel, son of the 

blacksmith ! 

413. Tous les Bourgeois de Chartres was a song wTitten by Ducauroi, maltre 
de chapelle of Heuri IV., the words of which are : — 
Vous connaissez Cybele, 
Qui sut fixer le Temps ; 
On la disait fort belle, 
Meme dans ses vieux ans. 



Cette divinit(5, quoique dej^ grand' mere 
Avait les yeux doux, le teint f rais , 
Avait meme certains attraits 
Fermes comme la Terre. 

Le Carillon de Dunkerque was a popular song to a tune played on the Dun- 
kirk chimes. The words are : — 

Imprudent, t»5m6raire 
A I'instant, je I'espere 
Dans mon juste courroux, 
Tu vas tomber sous mes coups ! 

— Je brave ta menace 

— Etre moi ! quelle audace ! 
Avance done, poltron ! 

Tu trembles ? non, non, non. 

— J'etouif e de colere ! 

— Je ris de ta colere. 

The music to which the old man sang these songs will be found in La Clc du 
Caveau, by Pierre Crpelle, Nos. 5G4 and 739. Paris : A. Cotelle. 



42 LONGFELLOW. 

420 So passed the morning away. And lo ! with a sum- 
mons sonorous 

Sounded the bell from its tower, and over the mead- 
ows a drum beat. 

Thronged erelong was the church with men. With- 
out, in the churchyard, 

"Waited the women. They stood by the graves, and 
hung on the headstones 

Garlands of autumn-leaves and evergreens fresh from 
the forest. 
425 Then came the guard from the ships, and marching 
proudly among them 

Entered the sacred portal. With loud and dissonant 
clangor 

Echoed the sound of their brazen drums from ceil- 
ing and casement, — 

Echoed a moment only, and slowly the ponderous 
portal 

Closed, and in silence the crowd awaited the will of 
the soldiers. 
430 Then u23rose their commander, and spake from the 
steps of the altar. 

Holding aloft in his hands, with its seals, the royal 
commission. 

" You are convened this day," he said, " by his Maj- 
esty's orders. 

Clement and kind has he been ; but how you have 
answered his kindness 

Let your own hearts reply ! To my natural make 
and my temper 

432. Colonel Winslow has preserved in his Diary the speech which he deliv- 
ered to the assembled Acadians, and it is copied by Halibui'tou in his History 
of Nova Scotia, i. ICG, 167. 



EVANGELINE. 43 

435 Painful the task is I do, which to you I know must 

be grievous. 
Yet must I bow and obey, and deliver the will of our 

monarch : 
Namely, that all your lands, and dwellings, and cattle 

of all kinds 
Forfeited be to the crown ; and that you yourselves 

from this province 
Be transported to other lands. God grant you may 

dwell there 
440 Ever as faithful subjects, a happy and peaceable 

people ! 
Prisoners now I declare you, for such is his Majesty's 

pleasure ! " 
As, when the air is serene in the sultry solstice of 

summer. 
Suddenly gathers a storm, and the deadly sling of 

the hailstones 
Beats down the farmer's corn in the field, and shat- 
ters his windows, 
445 Hiding the sun, and strewing the ground with thatch 

from the house-roofs. 
Bellowing fly the herds, and seek to break their en- 
closures ; 
So on the hearts of the people descended the words 

of the speaker. 
Silent a moment they stood in speecldess wonder, and 

then rose 
Louder and ever louder a wail of sorrow and anger, 
450 And, by one impulse moved, they madly rushed to 

the door-way. 
Vain was the hope of escape ; and cries and fierce 

imiDrecations 



44 LONGFELLOW. 

Rang through the house of prayer ; and high o'er the 

heads of the others 
Rose, with his arms upUfted, the figure of Basil the 

blacksmith, 
As, on a- stormy sea, a spar is tossed by the bil- 
lows. 
455 Flushed was his face and distorted with passion ; and 

wildly he shouted, — 
" Down with the tyrants of England ! we never ha\*e 

sworn them allegiance ! 
Death to these foreign soldiers, who seize on our 

homes and our harvests ! " 
More he fain would have said, but the merciless hand 

of a soldier 
Smote him upon the mouth, and dragged him down 

to the pavement. 

460 In the midst of the strife and tumult of angry con- 
tention, 

Lo ! the door of the chancel opened, and Father 
Felician 

Entered, with serious mien, and ascended the steps of 
the altar. 

Raising his reverend hand, with a gesture he awed 
into silence 

All that clamorous throng ; and thus he spake to his 
people ; 
465 Deep were his tones and solemn ; in accents measured 
and mournful 

Spake he, as, after the tocsin's alarum, distinctly the 
clock strikes. 

" What is this that ye do, my children ? wliai mad- 
ness has seized you ? 



EVANGELINE. 45 

Forty years of my life have I labored among you, and 

taught you, 
Not in word alone, but in deed, to love one another ! 
470 Is this the fruit of my toils, of my vigils and prayers 

and privations ? 
Have you so soon forgotten all lessons of love and 

forgiveness ? 
This is the house of the Prince of Peace, and would 

you profane it 
Thus with violent deeds and hearts overflowing with 

hatred ? 
Lo ! where the crucified Christ from His cross is gaz- 
ing ujDon you ! 
475 See I in those sorrowful eyes what meekness and holy 

compassion ! 
Hark ! how those lips still repeat the prayer, ' O 

Father, forgive them ! ' 
Let us repeat that prayer in the hour when the 

wicked assail us. 
Let us repeat it now, and say, 'O Father, forgive 

them ! ' " 
Few were his words of rebuke, but deep in the hearts 

of his people 
480 Sank they, and sobs of contrition succeeded the 

passionate outbreak. 
While they repeated his prayer, and said, " O Father, 

forgive them ! " 

Then came the evening service. The tapers 

gleamed from the altar ; 
Fervent and deep was the voice of the priest, and 

the people responded, 
Not with their lips alone, but their hearts ; and the 

Ave Maria 



46 LONGFELLOW. 

485 Sang they, and fell on their knees, and their souls, 
with devotion translated, 
Rose on the ardor of prayer, like Elijah ascending to 
* heaven. 

Meanwhile had sj)read in the village the tidings of 
ill, and on all sides 

Wandered, wailing, from house to house the women 
and children. 

Long at her father's door Evangeline stood, with her 
right hand 
490 Shielding her eyes from the level rays of the sun, 
that, descending. 

Lighted the village street with mysterious sjDlendor, 
and roofed each 

Peasant's cottage with golden thatch, and embla- 
zoned its windows. 

Long within had been spread the snow-white cloth on 
the table ; 

There stood the wheaten loaf, and the honey fragrant 
with wild-flowers ; 
495 There stood the tankard of ale, and the cheese fresh 
brought from the dairy; 

And at the head of the board the great arm-chair of 
the farmer. 

Thus did Evangeline wait at her father's door, as the 
sunset 

Threw the long shadows of trees o'er the broad am- 
brosial meadows. 

Ah ! on her spirit within a deeper shadow iiad fallen, 

492. To emblazon is literally to adorn anything with ensigns armorial. It 
was often the custom to work these ensigns into the design of painted win- 
dows. 



EVANGELINE. 47 

500 And from the fields of her soul a fragrance celestial 
ascended, — 

Charity, meekness, love, and hope, and forgiveness, 
and patience ! 

Then, all-forgetful of self, she wandered into the vil- 
lage. 

Cheering with looks and words the mournful hearts 
of the women. 

As o'er the darkening fields with lingering steps they 
dejDarted, 
505 Urged by their household cares, and the weary feet 
of their children. 

Down sank the great red sun, and in golden, glim- 
mering vapors 

Veiled the light of his face, like the Prophet descend- 
ing from Sinai. 

Sweetly over the village the bell of the Angelas 
sounded. 

Meanwhile, amid the gloom, by the church Evan- 
geline lingered. 
510 All was silent within ; and in vain at the door and 
the windows 
Stood she, and listened and looked, until, overcome 

by emotion, 
" Gabriel ! " cried she aloud with tremulous voice ; 

but no answer 
Came from the graves of the dead, nor the gloomier 

grave of the living. 
Slowly at length she returned to the tenantless house 
of her father. 
515 Smouldered the fire on the hearth, on the board was 
the supper untasted, 



48 LONGFELLOW. 

Empty and drear was each room, and hamited with 

phantoms of terror. 
Sadly echoed her step on the stair and the floor of 

her chamber. 
In the dead of the night she heard the disconsolate 

rain fall 
Loud on the withered leaves of the sycamore-tree by 

the window. 
520 Keenly the lightning flashed ; and the voice of the 

echoing thmider 
Told her that God was in heaven, and governed the 

world He created ! 
Then she remembered the tale she had heard of the 

justice of Heaven ; 
Soothed was her troubled soul, and she j)eacefully 

slumbered till morninjr. 



Four times the sun had risen and set ; and now on 

the fifth day 
525 Cheerily called the cock to the sleeping maids of the 

farm-house. 
Soon o'er the yellow fields, in silent and mournful 

procession, 
Came from the neighboring hamlets and farms the 

Acadian women. 
Driving in ponderous wains their household goods to 

the sea-shore, 
Pausing and looking back to gaze once more on their 

dwellings, 
630 Ere they were shut from sight by the winding road 

and the woodland. 



EVANGELINE. 49 

Close at their sides their children ran, and urged on 
the oxen, 

While in their little hands they clasj)ed some frag- 
ments of playthings. 

Thus to the Gaspereau's mouth they hurried ; and 

there on the sea-heach 
Piled in confusion lay the household goods of the 

peasants. 
535 All day long between the shore and the ships did the 

boats ply ; 
All day long the wains came laboring down from the 

village. 
Late in the afternoon, when the sun was near to his 

setting, 
Echoed far o'er the fields came the roll of drums 

from the churchyard. 
Thither the women and children thronged. On a 

sudden the church-doors 
540 Opened, and forth came the guard, and marching in 

gloomy procession 
Followed the long-imprisoned, but patient, Acadian 

farmers. 
Even as pilgrims, who journey afar from their homes 

and their country, 
Sing as they go, and in singing forget they are weary 

and wayworn. 
So with songs on their lips the Acadian peasants de- 
scended 
545 Down from the church to the shore, amid their wives 

and their daughters. 
Foremost the young men came ; and, raising together 

their voices, 
A 



50 LONGFELLOW. 

Sang with tremulous lips a chant o£ the Catholic 
Missions : — 

" Sacred heart of the Saviour ! inexhaustible 
fountain ! 

Fill our hearts this day with strength and submission 
and patience ! " 
550 Then the old men, as they marched, and the women 
that stood by the wayside 

Joined in the sacred psalm, and the birds in the sun- 
shine above them 

Mingled their notes therewith, like voices of spirits 
departed. 

Half-way down to the shore Evangeline waited in 
silence, 

Not overcome with grief, but strong in the hour of 
affliction, — 
555 Calmly and sadly she waited, until the jorocession ap- 
proached her, 

And she beheld the face of Gabriel pale with emo- 
tion. 

Tears then filled her eyes, and, eagerly running to 
meet him, 

Clasped she his hands, and laid her head on his 
shoulder, and whispered, — 

" Gabriel ! be of good cheer ! for if we love one an- 
other 
560 Nothing, in truth, can harm us, whatever mischances 
may happen ! " 

Smiling she si3ake these words ; then. suddenly paused, 
for her father 

Saw she slowly advancing. Alas ! how changed was 
his aspect ! 



EVANGELINE. 51 

Gone was the glow from his cheek, and the fire from 
his eye, and his footstep 

Heavier seemed with the weight of the heavy heart 
in his bosom. 
565 But with a smile and a sigh, she clasped his neck 
and embraced him, 

Speaking words of endearment where words of com- 
fort availed not. 

Thus to the Gaspereau's mouth moved on that mourn- 
ful procession. * 

There disorder prevailed, and the tumult and stir 

of embarking. 
Busily i:>lied the freighted boats ; and in the confu- 
sion 
570 Wives Avere torn from their husbands, and mothers, 

too late, saw their children 
Left on the land, extending their arms, with wildest 

entreaties. 
So unto separate shijDS were Basil and Gabriel carried, 
While in despair on the shore Evangeline stood with 

her father. 
Half the task was not done when the sun went down, 

and the twilight 
575 Deepened and darkened around ; and in haste the 

refluent ocean 
Fled away from the shore, and left the line of the 

sand-beach 
Covered with waifs of the tide, with kelp and the 

slippery sea-weed. 
Farther back in the midst of the household goods 

and the wagons. 
Like to a gypsy camp, or a leaguer after a battle, 



52 LONGFELLOW. 

880 All escape cut off by the sea, and the sentinels near 

them, 
Lay encamped for the night the houseless Acadian 

farmers. 
Back to its nethermost caves retreated the bellowing 

ocean, 
Dragging adown the beach the rattling pebbles, and 

leaving 
Inland and far up the shore the stranded boats of the 

sailoft. 
585 Then, as the night descended, the herds returned from 

their pastures ; 
Sweet was the moist still air with the odor of milk 

from their udders ; 
Lowing they waited, and long, at the well-known 

bars of the farm-yard, — 
Waited and looked in vain for the voice and the hand 

of the milkmaid. 
Silence reigned in the streets ; from the church no 

Angelus sounded, 
890 Rose no smoke from the roofs, and gleamed no lights 

from the windows. 

But on the shores meanwhile the evening fires had 

been kindled, 
Built of the drift-wood thrown on the sands from 

wrecks in the tempest. 
Round them shapes of gloom and sorrowful faces 

were gathered, 
Voices of women were heard, and of men, and the 

crying of children. 
595 Onward from fire to fire, as from hearth to hearth in 

his parish, 



EVANGELINE. 53 

Wandered the faithful priest, consoilng and blessing 

and cheering, 
Like unto shipwrecked Paul on Melita's desolate sea- 
shore. 
Thus he approached the place where Evangeline sat 

with her father, 
And in the flickering light beheld the face of the old 

man, 
600 Haggard and hollow and wan, and without either 

thought or emotion, 
E'en as the face of a clock from which the hands 

have been taken. 
Vainly Evangeline strove with words and caresses to 

cheer him, 
Vainly offered him food ; yet he moved not, he 

looked not, he spake not, 
But, with a vacant stare, ever gazed at the flickering 

fire-light. 
605 " Benedicite ! " murmured the priest, in tones of com- 
passion. ' 
More he fain would have said, but his heart was fidl, 

and his accents 
Faltered and paused on his lips, as the feet of a child 

on a threshold. 
Hushed by the scene he beholds, and the awful 

presence of sorrow. 
Silently, therefore, he laid his hand on the head of 

the maiden, 
610 Raising his tearful eyes to the silent stars that above 

them 
Moved on their way, unperturbed by the wrongs and 

sorrows of mortals. 
Then sat he down at her side, and they wept together 

in silence. 



54 LONGFELLOW. 

Suddenly rose from the south a light, as in au- 
tumn the blood-red 

Moon climbs the crystal walls of heaven, and o'er 
the horizon 
615 Titan-like stretches its hundred hands upon mountain 
and meadow. 

Seizing the rocks and the rivers, and piling huge 
shadows together. 

Broader and ever broader it gleamed on the roofs of 
the village. 

Gleamed on the sky and the sea, and the ships that 
lay in the roadstead. 

Columns of shining smoke uprose, and flashes of 
flame were 
620 Thrust through their folds and withdrawn, like the 
quivering hands of a martyr. 

Then as the wind seized the gleeds and the burning 
thatch, and, uf)lifting. 

Whirled them aloft through the air, at once from a 
hundred house-tops 

Started the sheeted smoke with flashes of flame inter- 
mingled. 

G15. The Titans were giant deities in Greek mythology who attempted to 
deprive Saturn of tlie sovereignty of heaven, and were driven down into Tar- 
tarus by Jupiter, the son of Saturn, who hurled thunderbolts at them. Bria- 
reus, the hundred-handed giant, was in mythology of the same parentage as the 
Titans, but was not classed with them. 

621. Gleeds. Hot, burning coals ; a Chaucerian word : — 

" And wafres piping hoot out of the gleede." 

Canterburij Tales, 1. 3379. 

The burning of the houses was in accordance with the instructions of the 
Governor to Colonel Winslow, in case he should fail in collecting all the in- 
habitants : " You must proceed by the most vigorous measures possible, not 
only in compelling them to embark, but in depriving those who shall escape of 
all means of shelter or support by burning their houses, and by destroying 
everything that may afford them the means of subsistence in the country." 



EVANGELINE. 55 

These things beheld in dismay the crowd on the 

shore and on shipboard. 
625 Speechless at first they stood, then cried aloud in 

their anguish, 
" We shall behold no more our homes in the village 

of Grand-Pre ! " 
Loud on a sudden the cocks began to crow in the 

farm-yards, 
Thinking the day had dawned ; and anon the lowing 

of cattle 
Came on the evening breeze, by the barking of dogs 

interruj)ted. 
630 Then rose a sound of dread, such as startles the 

sleeping encampments 
Far in the western prairies of forests that skirt the 

Nebraska, 
When the wild hordes affrighted sweep by with the 

speed of the whirlwind, 
Or the loud bellowing herds of buffaloes rush to the 

river. 
Such was the sound that arose on the night, as the 

herds and the horses 
635 Broke through their folds and fences, and madly 

rushed o'er the meadows. 

Overwhelmed with the sight, yet speechless, the 

priest and the maiden 
Gazed on the scene of terror that reddened and 

widened before them ; 
And as they turned at length to speak to their silent 

companion, 
Lo ! from his seat he had fallen, and stretched 

abroad on the sea-shore 



56 LONGFELLOW. 

640 Motionless lay his form, from which the soul had de- 
parted. 
Slowly the priest uplifted the lifeless head, and the 

maiden 
Knelt at her father's side, and wailed aloud in her 

terror. 
Then in a swoon she sank, and lay with her head on 

his bosom. 
Through the long night she lay in deep, oblivious 

slumber ; 
645 And when she woke from the trance, she beheld a 

multitude near her. 
Faces of friends she beheld, that were mournfully 

gazing upon her, 
Pallid, with tearful eyes, and looks of saddest com- 
passion. 
Still the blaze of the burning village illumined the 

landscape, 
Reddened the sky overhead, and gleamed on the 

faces around her, 
650 And like the day of doom it seemed to her wavering 

senses. 
Then a familiar voice she heard, as it said to the 

people, — 
" Let us bury him here by the sea. When a hajDpier 

season 
Brings us again to our homes from the unknown land 

of our exile. 
Then shall his sacred dust be piously laid in the 

churchyard." 
655 Such were the words of the j)i'iest. And there in 

haste by the sea-side, 
Having the glare of the burning village for funeral 

torches, 



EVANGELINE. 67 

But without bell or book, they buried the farmer of 

Grand-Pre. 
And as the voice of the priest repeated the service of 

sorrow, 
Lo ! with a mournful sound, like the voice of a vast 

congregation, 
660 Solemnly answered the sea, and mingled its roar with 

the dirges. 
'T was the returning tide, that afar from the waste 

of the ocean. 
With the first dawn of the day, came heaving and 

hurrying landward. 
Then recommenced once more the stir and noise of 

embarking ; 
And with the ebb of the tide the ships sailed out of 

the harbor, 
665 Leaving behind them the dead on the shore, and the 

village in ruins. 



PART THE SECOND. 



Maxy a weary year had passed since the burning of 
Grand-Pre, 

When on the falling tide the freighted vessels de- 
parted. 

Bearing a nation, with all its household gods, into 
exile, ^ 

Exile without an end, and without an example in 
story. 

657. The bell was tolled to mark the passage of the soul into the other 
world ; the book was the service book. The phrase " bell, book, or candle " 
was used in referring to excommunication. 



58 LONGFELLOW. 

670 Far asunder, on separate coasts, the Acadians landed ; 
Scattered were they, Hke flakes of snow, when the 

wind from the northeast 
Strikes aslant through the fogs that darken the 

Banks of Newfoundland. 
Friendless, homeless, hopeless, they wandered from 

city to city. 
From the cold lakes of the North to sultry Southern 

savannas, — 
675 From the bleak shores of the sea to the lands where 

the Father of Waters 
Seizes the hills in his hands, and drags them down to 

the ocean. 
Deep in their sands to bury the scattered bones of 

the mammoth. 
Friends they sought and homes ; and many, despair- 
ing, heart-broken, 
Asked of the earth but a grave, and no longer a 

friend nor a fireside. 
680 Written their history stands on tablets of stone in the 

churchyards. 
Long among them was seen a maiden who waited 

and wandered. 
Lowly and meek in sj^irit, and patiently suffering all 

things. 
Fair was she and young ; but, alas ! before her ex- 
tended. 
Dreary and vast and silent, the desert of life, with its 

pathway ^ 

G77. Bones of the mastodon, or mammoth, have been found scattered all 
over the territory of the United States and Canada, but the greatest number 
have been collected in the Salt Licks of Kentucky, and in the States of Ohio, 
Mississippi, Missouri, and Alabama. 



EVANGELINE. 59 

685 Marked by the graves of those who had sorrowed 
and suffered before her, 

Passions long extinguished, and hopes long dead and 
abandoned. 

As the emigrant's way o'er the Western desert is 
marked by 

CamjD-fires long consumed, and bones that bleach in 
the sunshine. 

Something there was in her life incomplete, im- 
perfect, unfinished ; 
690 As if a morning of June, with all its music and sun= 
shine. 

Suddenly paused in the sky, and, fading, slowly de- 
scended 

Into the east again, from whence it late had arisen. 

Sometimes she lingered in towns, till, urged by the 
fever mthin her. 

Urged by a restless longing, the hunger and thirst of 
the spu-it, 
695 She would commence again her endless search and 
endeavor ; 

Sometimes in churchyards strayed, and gazed on the 
crosses and tombstones. 

Sat by some nameless grave, and thought that per- 
haps m its bosom 

He w^as already at rest, and she longed to slumber 
beside him. 

Sometimes a rumor, a hearsay, an inarticulate whis- 
per, 
700 Came m ith its airy hand to point and beckon her for- 
^Yard. 

699. Observe the diminution in this line, by which one is led to the ait 
in the next. 



60 LONGFELLO \V. 

Sometimes she si:)ake with those who had seen her 

beloved and known him, 
But it was long ago, in some far-off place or for- 
gotten. 
" Gabriel Lajeunesse ! " they said ; " Oh, yes ! we 

have seen him. 
He was with Basil the blacksmith, and both have 

gone to the prairies ; 
705 Coureurs-des-bois are they, and famous hunters and 

trajDpers." 
" Gabriel Lajeunesse ! " said others ; " Oh, yes ! we 

have seen him. 
He is a Voyageur in the lowlands of Louisiana." 
Then would they say, " Dear child ! why dream and 

wait for him longer ? 
Are there not other youths as fair as Gabriel ? others 
710 Who have hearts as tender and true, and spirits as 

loyal ? 
Here is Baptiste Leblanc, the notary's son, who has 

loved thee 
Many a tedious year ; come, give him thy hand and 

be hapjDy ! 
Thou art too fair to be left to braid St. Catherine's 

tresses. 

705. The coureurs-des-bois formed a class of men very early in Canadian 
history, produced by the exigencies of the fur-trade. They were French by 
birth, but by long affiliation witli the Indians and adoption of their customs 
had become lialf-civilized vagrants, whose chief vocation was conducting the 
canoes of tlie traders along the lakes and rivers of the interior. Bushrangers 
is the English equivalent. They played an important part in tlie Indian wars, 
but were nearly as lawless as tlie Indians tliemselves. The reader will find 
them frequently referred to in Parkman's histories, especially in The Conspir- 
acy of Pontiac, Tke Discovery of the Great West, and Frontenac and New 
France under Louis XIV. 

ion. A voyageur is a river boatman, and is a term applied usually to Cana- 
dians. 

713. St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. Catherine of Siena were both eel- 



EVANGELINE. 61 

Then would Evangeline answer, serenely but sadly, 
" I cannot ! 
715 Whither my heart has gone, there follows my hand, 
and not elsewhere. 

For when the heart goes before, like a lamp, and 
illumines the pathway, 

Many things are made clear, that else lie hidden in 
darkness." 

Thereupon the priest, her friend and father con- 
fessor, 

Said, with a smile, " O daughter ! thy God thus 
speaketh within thee ! 
720 Talk not of Avasted affection, affection never was 
wasted ; 

If it enrich not the heart of another, its waters, re- 
turning 

Back to their springs, like the rain, shall fill them full 
of refreshment; 

That which the fountain sends forth returns again to 
the fountain. 

Patience ; accomplish thy labor ; accomplish thy work 
of affection ! 
726 Sorrow and silence are strong, and patient endurance 
is godlike. 

Therefore accomplish thy labor of love, till the heart 
is made godlike, 

Purified, strengthened, perfected, and rendered more 
worthy of heaven ! " 

Cheered by the good man's words, Evangeline la- 
bored and waited. 

Still in her heart she heard the funeral dirge of the 
ocean, 

ebrated for their vows of virginity. Hence the saying to braid St. Catherine's 
tresses, of one devoted to a single life. 



62 LONGFELLOW. 

730 But with its sound there was mingled a voice that 

whispered, " Despair not ! " 
Thus did that poor soul wander in want and cheer- 
less discomfort, 
Bleeding, barefooted, over the shards and thorns of 

existence. 
Let me essay, O Muse ! to follow the wanderer's 

footstejjs ; — 
Not through each devious path, each changeful year 

of existence ; 
735 But as a traveller follows a streamlet's course through 

the valley : 
Far from its margin at times, and seeing the gleam 

of its water 
Here and there, in some open sj^ace, and at intervals 

only ; 
Then drawing nearer its banks, through sylvan 

glooms that conceal it, 
Though he behold it not, he can hear its continuous 

murmur ; 
740 Happy, at length, if he find a spot where it reaches 

an outlet. 

II. 

It was the month of May. Far down the Beautiful 
River, 

Past the Ohio shore and past the mouth of the Wa- 
bash, 

Into the golden stream of the broad and swift Mis- 
sissippi, 



741. The Iroquois gave to this river the name of Ohio, or the Beautiful 
River, and La Salle, who was the first European to discover it, preserved the 
name so that it very early was transferred to maps. 



EVANGELINE. 63 

Floated a cumbrous boat, that was rowed by Aca- 
dian boatmen. 
745 It was a band of exiles : a raft, as it were, from the 
shipwrecked 

Nation, scattered along the coast, now floating to- 
gether, 

Bound by the bonds of a common belief and a com- 
mon misfortune ; 

]Men and women and children, who, guided by hope 
or by hearsay. 

Sought for their kith and their kin among the few- 
acred farmers 
750 On the Acadian coast, and the prairies of fair Ope- 
lousas. 

With them Evangeline went, and her guide, the 
Father Felician. 

Onward o'er sunken sands, through a wilderness 
sombre with forests. 

Day after day they glided adown the turbulent river ; 

Night after night, by their blazing fires, encamped 
on its borders. 
755 Now through rushing chutes, among green islands, 
where plumelike 

Cotton-trees nodded their shadowy crests, they swept 
with the current, 



750. Between the 1st of January and the 13th of May, 17C5, about six hun- 
dred and fifty Acadians had arrived at New Orleans. Louisiana had been 
ceded by France to Spain in 17G2, but did not really pass under the control of 
the Spanish until 17G9. The existence of a French population attracted the 
wandering Acadians, and they were sent by the authorities to form settle- 
ments in Attakapas and Opelousas, They afterward formed settlements on 
both sides of the Mississippi from the German Coast up to Baton Rouge, and 
even as high as Pointe Coupee. Hence the name of Acadian Coast, which a 
portion of the banks of the riv,er still bears. See Gayarre's Hisionj of Louisi- 
ana : The French Dominion, vol. ii. 



64 LONGFELLOW. 

Then emerged into broad lagoons, where silvery 

sand-bars 
Lay in the stream, and along the wimpling waves of 

their margin, 
Shining with snow-white plumes, large flocks of 

pelicans waded. 
760 Level the landscape grew, and along the shores of the 

river. 
Shaded by china-trees, in the midst of luxuriant 

gardens, 
Stood the houses of planters, with negro cabins and 

dove-cots. 
They were approaching the region where reigns per- 
petual sunnner. 
Where through the Golden Coast, and groves of 

orange and citron, 
765 Sweeps with majestic curve the river away to the 

eastward. 
The}'^, too, swerved from their course ; and, enter- 
ing the Bayou of Plaquemine, 
Soon were lost in a maze of sluggish and devious 

waters. 
Which, like a network of steel, extended in every 

direction. 
Over their heads the towering and tenebrous boughs 

of the cypress 
770 Met in a dusky arch, and trailing mosses in mid-air 
Waved like banners that hang on the walls of ancient 

cathedrals. 
Deathlike the silence seemed, and unbroken, save by 

the herons 
Home to their roosts in the cedar-trees returning at 

sunset, 



EVANGELINE. 65 

Or by the owl, as he greeted the moon with demoniac 

lauohter. 
776 Lovely the moonlight was as it glanced and gleamed 

on the water, 
Gleamed on the columns of cypress and cedar sus- 
taining the arches, 
Down through whose broken vaults it fell as through 

chinks in a ruin. 
Dreamlike, and indistinct, and strange were all things 

around them ; 
And o'er their spirits there came a feeling of wonder 

and sadness, — 
780 Strange forebodings of ill, unseen and that cannot be 

compassed. 
As, at the tramj) of a horse's hoof on the turf of 

the prairies. 
Far in advance are closed the leaves of the shrinking 

mimosa. 
So, at the hoof-beats of fate, with sad forebodings of 

evil, 
Shrinks and closes the heart, ere the stroke of doom 

has attained it. 
785 But Evangeline's heart was sustained by a vision, 
. that faintly 
Floated before her eyes, and beckoned her on through 

the moonlight. 
It was the thought of her brain that assumed the 

shape of a phantom. 
Through those shadowy aisles had Gabriel wandered 

before her. 
And every stroke of the oar now brought him nearer 

and nearer. 
5 



66 LONGFELLOW. 

790 Then in his pUice, at the prow of the hoat, rose one 

of the oarsmen, 
And, as a signal sound, if others like them peradven- 

tiire 
Sailed on those gloomy and midnight streams, blew a 

blast on his bugle. 
Wild through the dark colonnades and corridors 

leafy the blast rang, 
Breaking the seal of silence and giving tongues to the 

forest. 
795 Soundless above them the banners of moss just stirred 

to the music. 
Multitudinous echoes awoke and died in the distance, 
Over the watery floor, and beneath the reverberant 

branches ; 
But not a voice replied ; no answer came from the 

darkness ; 
And when the echoes had ceased, like a sense of pain 

was the silence. 
800 Then Evangeline slept; but the ^boatmen rowed 

through the midnight, 
Silent at times, then singing familiar Canadian boat- 
songs. 
Such as they sang of old on their own Acadian rivers, 
While through the night were heard the mysterious 

sounds of the desert. 
Far off, — indistinct, — as of wave or wind in the 

forest, 
805 Mixed with the whoop of the crane and the roar of 

the grim alligator. 

Thus ere another noon they emerged from the 
shades ; and before them 



EVANGELINE. 67 

Lay, in the golden sun, the lakes of the Atchafalaya. 

Water-lilies in myriads rocked on the slight undula- 
tions 

Made by the passing oars, and, resplendent in beauty, 
the lotus 
810 Lifted her golden crown above the heads of the boat- 
men. 

Faint was the air with the odorous breath of mag- 
nolia blossoms, 

And with the heat of noon ; and numberless sylvan 
islands, 

Fragrant and thickly embowered with blossoming 
hedges of roses, 

Near to whose shores they glided along, invited to 
slumber. 
815 Soon by the fairest of these their weary oars were 
suspended. 

Under the boughs of Wachita willows, that grew by 
the margin. 

Safely their boat was moored ; and scattered about 
on the greensward, 

Tired with their midnight toil, the Aveary travellers 
slumbered. 

Over them vast and high extended the cope of a 
cedar. 
820 Swinging from its great arms, the trumpet-flower and 
the grapevine 

Hung their ladder of ropes aloft like the ladder of 
Jacob, 

On whose pendulous stairs the angels ascending, de- 
scending. 

Were the swift humming-birds, that flitted from blos- 
som to blossom. 



68 LONGFELLO W. 

Such was the vision Evangeline saw as she slumbered 
beneath it. 
826 Filled was her heart with love, and the dawn of an 
opening heaven 
Lighted her soul in sleep with the glory of regions 
celestial. 

Nearer, ever nearer, among the numberless islands, 
Darted a light, swift boat, that sped away o'er the 

water, 
Urged on its course by the sinewy arms of hunters 

and trappers. 
830 Northward its prow was turned, to the land of the 

bison and beaver. 
At the helm sat a youth, with countenance thoughtful 

and careworn. 
Dark and neglected locks overshadowed liis brow, 

and a sadness 
'Somewhat beyond his years on his face was legibly 

written. 
Gabriel was it, who, weary with waiting, unhappy and 

restless, 
835 Sought in the Western wilds oblivion of self and of 

sorrow. 
Swiftly they glided along, close under the lee of the 

island, 
But by the opposite bank, and behind a screen of 

palmettos ; 
So that they saw not the boat, where it lay concealed 

in the willows ; 
All undisturbed by the dash of their oars, and un- 
seen, were the sleepers ; 
840 Angel of God was there none to awaken the slum- 
bering maiden. 



EVANGELINE. 69 

Swiftly they glided away, like the shade of a cloud 

on the prairie. 
After the sound of their oars on the tholes had died 

in the distance, 
As from a magic trance the sleepers awoke, and the 

maiden 
Said with a sigh to the friendly priest, " O Father 

Felician ! 
845 Something says in my heart that near me Gabriel 

wanders. 
Is it a foolish dream, an idle and vague superstition ? 
Or has an angel passed, and revealed the truth to my 

spirit ? '* 
Then, with a blush, she added, " Alas for my credu- 
lous fancy ! 
Unto ears like thine such words as these have no 

meaning." 
850 But made answer the reverend man, and he smiled 

as he answered, — 
" Daughter, thy words are not idle ; nor are they to 

me without meaning. 
Feeling is deep and still ; and the word that floats 

on the surface 
Is as the tossing buoy, that betrays where the anchor 

is liidden. 
Therefore trust to thy heart, and to what the world 

calls illusions. 
855 Gabriel truly is near thee ; for not far away to the 

southward. 
On the banks of the Teche, are the towns of St. Maur 

and St. Martin. 
There the long-wandering bride shall be given again 

to her bridegroom, 



70 LONGFELLOW, 

There the long-absent j)astor regain lils flock and his 

sheepfold. 
Beautiful is the land, with its prairies and forests of 

fruit-trees ; 
860 Under the feet a garden of flowers, and the bluest of 

heavens 
Bending above, and resting its dome on the walls of 

the forest. 
They who dwell there have named it the Eden of 

Louisiana." 

With these words of cheer they arose and con- 
tinued their journey. 

Softly the evening came. The sun from the western 
horizon 
865 Like a magician extended his golden wand o'er the 
landscape ; 

Twinkling vapors arose; and sky and water and 
forest 

Seemed all on fire at the touch, and melted and 
mingled together. 

Hanging between two skies, a cloud with edges of 
silver, 

Floated the boat, with its dri23ping oars, on the mo- 
tionless water. 
870 Filled was Evangeline's heart with inexjDressible 
sweetness. 

Touched by the magic si^ell, the sacred fountains of 
feeling 

Glowed with the light of love, as the skies and waters 
around her. 

Then from a neighboring thicket the mocking-bird, 
w^ildest of smgers, 



EVANGELINE. 71 

Swinging aloft on a willow spray that hung o'er the 
water, 
875 Shook from his little throat such floods of delirious 
music, 

That the whole air and the woods and the waves 
seemed silent to listen. 

Plaintive at first were the tones and sad ; then soar- 
ing to madness 

Seemed they to follow or guide the revel of frenzied 
Bacchantes. 

Single notes were .then heard, in sorrowful, low lam- 
entation ; 
880 Till, having gathered them all, he flung them abroad 
in derision, 

As when, after a storm, a gust of wind through the 
tree-tops 

Shakes down the rattling rain in a crystal shower 
on the branches. 

With such a prelude as this, and hearts that throbbed 
with emotion, 

Slowly they entered the Teche, where it flows 
through the green Opelousas, 
885 And, through tlie amber air, above the crest of the 
woodland. 

Saw the column of smoke that arose from a neighbor- 
ing dwelling ; — 

Sounds of a horn they heard, and the distant lowing 
of cattle. 

878. The Bacchantes were worshippers of the god Bacchus, who in Greek 
mythology presided over the vine and its fruits. They gave themselves up to 
all manner of excess, and their songs and dances were to wild, intoxicating 
measures. 



72 LONGFELLOW. 



III. 

Near to the bank of the river, o'ershadowed by oaks, 

from whose branches 
Garlands of Spanish moss and of mystic mistletoe 

flaunted, 
890 Such as the Druids cut down with golden hatchets at 

Yule-tide, 
Stood, secluded and still, the house of the herdsman, 

A garden 
Girded it round about with a belt of luxuriant 

blossoms. 
Filling the air with fragrance. The house itself was 

of timbers 
Hewn from the cyj^ress-tree, and carefully fitted to- 
gether. 
895 Large and low was the roof ; and on slender columns 

supj)orted, 
Rose-wreathed, vine-encircled, a broad and spacious 

veranda, 
Haunt of the humming-bird and the bee, extended 

around it. 
At each end of the house, amid the flowers of the 

garden, 
Stationed the dove-cots were, as love's perpetual 

symbol, 
900 Scenes of endless wooing, and endless contentions of 

rivals. 
Silence reigned o'er the place. The line of shadow 

and sunshine 
Ran near the tops of the trees ; but the house itself 

w^as in shadow, 
And from its chimney-top, ascending and slowly ex- 
panding 



EVANGELINE. 73 

Into the evening air, a thin bkie cohimn of smoke 

rose. 
905 In the rear of the house, from the garden gate, ran a 

pathway 
Through tlie great groves of oak to the skirts of the 

limitless prairie. 
Into whose sea of flowers the sun was slowly descend- 
ing. 
Full in his track of light, like ships with shadowy 

canvas 
Hanging loose from their spars in a motionless calm 

in the tropics, 
910 Stood a cluster of trees, with tangled cordage of 

grape\ines. 

Just where the woodlands met the flowery surf of 

the prairie. 
Mounted upon his horse, with Spanish saddle and 

stirrups. 
Sat a herdsman, arrayed in gaiters and doublet of 

deerskin. 
Broad and brown was the face that from under the 

Spanish sombrero 
915 Gazed on the peaceful scene, with the lordly look of 

its master. 
Round about him were numberless herds of kine 

that were grazing 
Quietly in the meadows, and breathing the vapory 

freshness 
That uprose from the river, and spread itself over 

the landscape. 
Slowly lifting the horn that hung at his side, and ex- 
panding 



74 LONGFELLO W. 

920 Fully his broad, deep chest, he blew a blast, that re- 
sounded 

Wildly and sweet and far, through the still damp air 
of the evening. 

Suddenly out of the grass the long white horns of the 
cattle 

Rose like flakes of foam or the adverse currents of 
ocean. 

Silent a moment they gazed, then bellowing rushed 
o'er the prairie, 
925 And the whole mass became a cloud, a shade in the 
distance. 

Then, as the herdsman turned to the house, through 
the gate of the garden 

Saw he the forms of the priest and the maiden ad- 
vancing to meet him. 

Suddenly down from his horse he sj^rang in amaze- 
ment, and forward 

Pushed with extended arms and exclamations of 
wonder ; 
830 When they beheld his face, they recognized Basil the 
blacksmith. 

Hearty his welcome was, as he led his guests to the 
garden. 

There in an arbor of roses with endless question and 
answer 

Gave they vent to their hearts, and renewed their 
friendly embraces. 

Laughing and weeping by turns, or sitting silent and 
thoughtful. 
935 Thoughtful, for Gabriel came not ; and now dark 
doubts and misgivings 

Stole o'er the maiden's heart; and Basil, somewhat 
embarrassed, 



EVANGELINE. 75 

Broke the silence and said, " If you came by the 

Atchafalaya, 
HoAv have you nowhere encountered my Gabriel's 

boat on the bayous ? " 
Over Evangeline's face at the words of Basil a shade 

passed. 
940 Tears came into her eyes, and she said, with a trem- 
ulous accent, 
" Gone ? is Gabriel gone ? " and, concealing her face 

on his shoulder, 
All her o'erburdened heart gave way, and she wept 

and lamented. 
Then the good Basil said, — and his voice grew 

blithe as he said it, — 
" Be of good cheer, my child ; it is only to-day he 

departed. 
945 Foolish boy ! he has left me alone with my herds and 

my horses. 
Moody and restless grown, and tried and troubled, 

his spirit 
Could no longer endure the calm of this quiet exis- 
tence. 
Thinking ever of thee, uncertain and sorrowful ever. 
Ever silent, or speaking only of thee and his troubles, 
950 He at length had become so tedious to men and to 

maidens. 
Tedious even to me, that at length I bethought me, 

and sent him 
Unto the town of Adayes to trade for mules with the 

Spaniards. 
Thence he will follow the Indian trails to the Ozark 

Mountains, 
Hunting for furs in the forests, on rivers trapping the 

beaver. 



76 LONGFELLOW. 

955 Therefore be of good cheer ; we will follow the fugi- 
tive lover ; 

He is not far on his way, and the Fates and the 
streams are against him. 

UjD and away to-morrow, and through the red dew of 
the morning, 

We will follow him fast, and bring him back to liis 
prison." 

Then glad voices were heard, and up from the 
banks of the river, 
960 Borne aloft on his comrades' arms, came Michael the 
fiddler. 

Long under Basil's roof had he lived like a god on 
Olympus, 

Having no other care than disjjensing music to mor- 
tals. 

Far renowned was he for his silver locks and his 
fiddle. 

" Long live Michael," they cried, " our brave Aca- 
dian minstrel ! " 
965 As they bore him aloft in triumj)hal procession ; and 
straightway 

Father Felician advanced with Evangeline, greeting 
the old man 

Kindly and oft, and recalling the past, while Basil, 
enraptured, 

Hailed with hilarious joy his old companions and 
gossiiDS, 

Laughing loud and long, and embracing mothers and 
daughters. 
970 Much they marvelled to see the wealth of the cide- 
vant blacksmith, 



EVANGELINE. 77 

All his domains and his herds, and his patriarchal 

demeanor ; 
Much they marvelled to hear his tales of the soil and 

the climate, 
And o£ the prairies, whose numberless herds were his 

who would take them ; 
Each one thought in his heart, that he, too, would go 

and do likewise. 
975 Thus they ascended the steps, and, crossing the 

breezy veranda. 
Entered the hall of the house, where already the 

supper of Basil 
Waited his late return ; and they rested and feasted 

together. 

Over the joyous feast the sudden darkness de- 
scended. 

All was silent without, and, illuming the landscape 
with silver, 
980 Fair rose the dewy moon and the myriad stars ; but 
within doors. 

Brighter than these, shone the faces of friends in the 
glimmering lamplight. 

Then from his station aloft, at the head of the table, 
the herdsman 

Poured forth his heart and his wine together in end- 
less profusion. 

Lighting his pipe, that wa» filled with sweet Natchi- 
toches tobacco, 
985 Thus he spake to his guests, who listened, and smiled 
as they listened : — 

" "Welcome once more, my friends, who long have 
been friendless and homeless, 



78 LONGFELLOW. 

Welcome once more to a home, that is better per- 
chance than the old one ! 

Here no hungry winter congeals our blood like the 
rivers ; 

Here no stony ground provokes the wrath of the 
farmer ; 
990 Smoothly the ploughshare runs through the soil, as 
a keel through the water. 

All the year round the orange-groves are in blos- 
som ; and grass grows 

More in a single night than a whole Canadian sum- 
mer. 

Here, too, numberless herds run wild and unclaimed 
in the prairies ; 

Here, too, lands may be had for the asking, and 
forests of timber 
995 With a few blows of the axe are hewn and framed 
into houses. 

After your houses are built, and your fields are yel- 
low with harvests, 

No King George of England shall drive you away 
from your homesteads, 

Burning your dwellings and barns, and stealing 
your farms and your cattle." 

Speaking these words, he blew a wrathful cloud 
from his nostrils, 
1000 While his huge, brown hand came thundering down 
on the table, 

So that the guests all started ; and Father Felician, 
astounded, 

Suddenly paused, with a pinch of snuff half-way to 
his nostrils. 

But the brave Basil resumed, and his words were 
milder and gayer : — 



EVANGELINE. 79 

'' Only beware of the fever, my friends, beware of 
the fever ! 
1005 For it is not like that of our cold Acadian climate, 

Cured by wearing a spider hung round one's neck 
in a nutshell ! " 

Then there were voices heard at the door, and foot- 
steps approaching 

Sounded upon the stairs and the floor of the breezy 
veranda. 

It was the neighboring Creoles and small Acadian 
planters, 
1010 Who had been summoned all to the house of Basil 
the herdsman. 

IMerry the meeting was of ancient comrades and 
neighbors : 

Friend clasped friend in his arms ; and they who 
before were as strangers. 

Meeting in exile, became straightway as friends to 
each other, 

Drawn by the gentle bond of a common country 
together. 
1015 But in the neighboring hall a strain of music, pro- 
ceeding 

From the accordant strings of Michael's melodious 
fiddle, 

Broke up all further speech. Away, like children 
delighted. 

All things forgotten beside, they gave themselves 
to the maddening 

Whirl of the dizzy dance, as it swept and swayed 
to the music, 
1020 Dreamlike, with beaming eyes and the rush of flut- 
tering garments. 



80 LONGFELLOW. 

Meanwhile, apart, at the head of the hall, the 

priest and the herdsman 
Sat, conversing together of past and present and 

future ; 
While Evangeline stood like one entranced, for 

within her 
Olden memories rose, and loud in the midst of the 

music 
1025 Heard she the somid of the sea, and an irrepres- 
sible sadness 
Came o'er her heart, and unseen she stole forth into 

the garden. 
Beautiful was the night. Behind the black wall of 

the forest. 
Tipping its summit wdth silver, arose the moon. On 

the river 
Fell here and there through the branches a tremu- 
lous gleam of the moonlight, 
1030 Like the sweet thoughts of love on a darkened and 

devious sj3irit. 
Nearer and round about her, the manifold flowers 

of the garden 
Poured out their souls in odors, that were their 

prayers and confessions 
Unto the night, as it went its way, like a silent 

Carthusian. 
Fuller of fragrance than they, and as heavy with 

shadows and night-dews, 

1033. The Carthusians are a monastic order founded in the twelfth century, 
perhaps the most severe in its rules of all religious societies. Almost per- 
petual silence is one of the vows ; the monks can talk together but once a 
week ; the labor required of them is unremitting and the discipline exceed- 
ingly rigid. The first monastery was established at Cliartreux near Grenoble 
in France, and the Latinized form of the name has given us the word Car- 
thusian. 



EVANGELINE. 81 



1035 Hang the heart of the maiden. The cahn and the 
magical moonlight 

Seemed to inundate her soul with indefinahle long- 
ings, 

As, through the garden gate, and beneath the shade 
of the oak-trees, 

Passed she along the path to the edge of the 
measureless prairie. 

Silent it lay, with a silvery haze upon it, and fire-flies 
1040 Gleaming and floating away in mingled and mfinite 
numbers. 

Over her head the stars, the thoughts of God in the 
heavens, 

Shone on the eyes of man, who had ceased to mar- 
vel and worshlj^, 

Save when a blazing comet was seen on the walls of 
that temple. 

As if a hand had appeared and written upon them, 
" Upharsin." 
1045 And the soul of the maiden, between the stars and 
the fire-flies. 

Wandered alone, and she cried, " O Gabriel! O my 
beloved ! 

Art thou so near unto me, and yet I cannot behold 
thee ? 

Art thou so near unto me, and yet thy voice does 
not reach me ? 

Ah ! how often thy feet have trod this path to the 
prairie ! 
1050 Ah ! how often thine eyes have looked on the wood- 
lands around me ! 

Ah ! how often beneath this oak, returning from 
labor, 



82 LONGFELLOW. 

Thou hast lain down to rest, and to dream of me 

in thy shimhers ! 
When shall these eyes behold, these arms be folded 

about thee ? " 
Loud and sudden and near the note of a whipjjoor- 

will sounded 
1055 Like a flute in the woods ; and anon, through the 

neighboring* thickets, 
Farther and farther away it floated and dropped 

into silence. 
" Patience ! " whispered the oaks from oracular 

caverns of darkness ; 
And, from the moonlit meadow, a sigh resj)onded, 

" To-morrow ! " 

Bright rose the sun next day ; and all the flowers 

of the garden 
1060 Bathed their shining feet with their tears, and 

anointed his tresses 
"With the delicious bahn that they bore in their vases 

of crystal. 
" Farewell ! " said the priest, as he stood at the 

shadowy threshold ; 
" See that you bring us the Prodigal Son from his 

fasting and famine, 
And, too, the Foolish Virgin, who slept when the 

bridegroom was coming." 
1065 " Farewell ! " answered the maiden, and, smiling, 

with Basil descended 
Down to the river's brink, where the boatmen al- 
ready were waiting. 
Thus beginning their journey with morning, and 

sunshine, and gladness, 



EVANGELINE. 83 

Swiftly they followed the flight of him who was 

speeding before them, 
Blown by the blast of fate like a dead leaf over 

the desert. 
1070 Not that day, nor the next, nor yet the day that 

succeeded, 
Found they trace of his course, in lake or forest or 

river, 
Nor, after many days, had they found him ; but 

vague and uncertain 
Rumors alone were their guides through a wild and 

desolate country ; 
Till, at the little inn of the Spanish town of Adayes, 
1075 Weary and worn, they alighted, and learned from 

the garrulous landlord. 
That on the day before, with horses and guides 

and companions, 
Gabriel left the village, and took the road of the 

prairies, 

IV. 

Far in the West there lies a desert land, where 
the mountains 

Lift, through perpetual snows, their lofty and lumi- 
nous summits. 
1080 Down from their jagged, deep ravines, where the 
gorge, like a gateway. 

Opens a passage rude to~the wheels of the emi- 
grant's wagon, 

Westward the Oregon flows and the Walleway and 
Owyhee. 

Eastward, with devious course, among the Wind- 
river Mountains, 



84 LONGFELLOW. 

Through the Sweet-water Valley precij^itate leajDs 

the Nebraska ; 
1085 And to the south, from Fontaine-qui-bout and the 

Spanish sierras, 
Fretted with sands and rocks, and swept by the 

wind of the desert, 
Numberless torrents, with ceaseless sound, descend 

to the ocean, 
Like the gTeat chords of a harp, in loud and solemn 

vibrations. 
Spreading between these streams are the wondrous, 

beautiful prairies, 
1090 Billowy bays of grass ever rolling in shadow and 

sunshine, 
Bright with luxuriant clusters of roses and purple 

amorphas. 
Over them wandered the buffalo herds, and the elk 

and the roebuck ; 
Over them wandered the wolves, and herds of rider- 
less horses; 
Fires that blast and blight, and winds that are 

weary with travel ; 
1096 Over them wander the scattered tribes of Ishmael's 

children, 
Staining the desert with blood ; and above their ter- 
rible war-trails 
Circles and sails aloft, on pinions majestic, the 

vulture, 
Like the implacable soul of a chieftain slaughtered 

in battle. 
By invisible stairs ascending and scaling the heavens. 
1100 Here and there rise smokes from the camps of these 

savage marauders; 



EVANGELINE, 85 

Here and there rise groves from the margins of 

swift-running rivers ; 
And the grim, taciturn bear, the anchorite monk 

of the desert, 
Climbs down their dark ravines to dig for roots 

by the brook-side. 
And over all is the sky, the clear and crystalline 

heaven, 
1105 Like the protecting hand of God inverted above 

them. 

Into this wonderful land, at the base of the Ozark 

Mountains, 
Gabriel far had entered, with hunters and trappers 

behind him. 
Day after day, with their Indian guides, the maiden 

and Basil 
Followed his flying steps, and thought each day to 

o'ertake him. 
1110 Sometimes they saw, or thought they saw, the 

smoke of his camp-fire 
Rise in the morning air from the distant plain ; but 

at nightfall, 
"When they had reached the place, they found only 

embers and ashes. 
And, though their hearts were sad at times and 

their bodies were weary, 
Hope still guided them on, as the magic Fata Mor- 
gana 
1115 Showed them her lakes of light, that retreated and 

vanished before them. 

1114. The Italian name for a meteoric phenomenon nearly allied to a mirage, 
witnessed in the Straits of Messina, and less frequently elsewhere, and con- 



86 LONGFELLO W. 

Once, as they sat by their evening fire, there 

silently entered 
Into the little camj) an Indian woman, -whose fea- 
tures 
Wore deep traces of sorrow, and patience as great 

as her sorrow. 
She was a Shawnee woman returning home to her 

people, 
1120 From the far-off hunting-grounds of the cruel Ca- 

manches, 
"Where her Canadian husband, a Coureur-des-Bois, 

had been murdered. 
Touched were their hearts at her story, and warm- 
est and friendliest welcome 
Gave they, with words of cheer, and she sat and 

feasted among them 
On the buffalo-meat and the venison cooked on the 

embers. 
1125 But when their meal was done, and Basil and all 

his companions. 
Worn with the long day's march and the chase of 

the deer and the bison. 
Stretched themselves on the ground, and slept 

where the quivering fire-light 
Flashed on their swarthy cheeks, and their forms 

wraj^ped up in their blankets. 
Then at the door of Evangeline's tent she sat and 

rej^eated 

sisting in the appearance in the air over the sea of the objects which are upon 
the neighboring coasts. In the southwest of our own country, the mirage 
is very common, of lakes wliich stretch before the tired traveller, and the 
deception is so great that parties have sometimes beckoned to otlier travel- 
lers, who seemed to be wading knee-deep, to come over to them where dry land 



EVANGELINE. 87 

1130 Slowly, -with soft, low voice, and the charm of her 

Indian accent, 
All the tale of her love, with its pleasures, and 

pains, and reverses. 
Much Evangeline wept at the tale, and to know 

that another 
Hapless heart like her own had loved and had been 

disappointed. 
Moved to the depths of her soul by pity and 

woman's compassion, 
1135 Yet in her sorrow pleased that one who had suf- 
fered was near her, 
She in turn related her love and all its disasters. 
Mute with wonder the Shawnee sat, and when she 

had ended 
Still was mute ; but at length, as if a mysterious 

horror 
Passed through her brain, she spake, and repeated 

the tale of the Mo wis ; 
1140 Mowis, the bridegroom of snow, who won and 

wedded a maiden. 
But, when the morning came, arose and passed from 

the wigwam. 
Fading and melting away and dissolving into the 

sunshine, 
Till she beheld him no more, though she followed 

far into the forest. 
Then, in those sweet, low tones, that seemed like a 

weird incantation, 
1145 Told she the tale of tho fair Lilinau, who was 

wooed by a phantom, 

1145. The story of Lilinau and other Indian legerftis will be foimd in H. R. 
Schoolcraft's Algic Researches. 



88 LONGFELLOW. 

That, tlirough the pines o'er her father's lodge, in 

the hush of the twilight, 
Breathed like the evening wind, and whispered love 

to the maiden, 
Till she followed his green and waving plume 

through the forest. 
And nevermore returned, nor was seen again by 

her people. 
1150 Silent with wonder and strange surprise, Evange- 
line listened 
To the soft flow of her magical words, till the re- 
gion around her 
Seemed like enchanted ground, and her swarthy 

guest the enchantress. 
Slowly over the tops of the Ozark Mountains the 

moon rose, 
Lighting the little tent, and with a mysterious 

splendor 
1155 Touching the sombre leaves, and embracing and 

filling the woodland. 
With a delicious sound the brook rushed by, and 

the branches 
Swayed and sighed overhead m scarcely audible 

whispers. 
Filled with the thoughts of love was Evangeline's 

heart, but a secret. 
Subtile sense crept in of pain and indefinite terror, 
1160 As the cold, poisonous snake creeps into the nest of 

the swallow. 
It was no earthly fear. A breath from the region 

of spirits 
Seemed to flgat in the air of night ; and she felt for 

a moment 



EVANGELINE. 89 

That, like the Indian maid, she, too, was pursuing 

a phantom. 
With this thought she slept, and the fear and the 

phantom had vanished. 

1165 Early upon the morrow the march was resumed ; 

and the Shawnee 
Said, as they journeyed along, — " On the western 

slope of these mountains 
Dwells in his little village the Black Robe chief of 

the Mission. 
JMuch he teaches the people, and tells them of 

Mary and Jesus ; 
Loud laugh their hearts with joy, and weej) with 

pain, as they hear him." 
1170 Then, with a sudden and secret emotion, Evange- 
line answered, 
*' Let us go to the Mission, for there good tidings 

await us ! " 
Thither they turned their steeds ; and behind a sj)ur 

of the mountains, 
Just as the sun went down, they heard a murmur 

of voices. 
And in a meadow green and broad, by the bank of 

a river, 
1175 Saw the tents of the Christians, the tents of the 

Jesuit Mission. 
Under a towering oak, that stood in the midst of 

the village, 
Knelt the Black Robe chief with his children. A 

crucifix fastened 
High on the trunk of the tree, and overshadowed 

by gi'apevines, 



90 LONGFELLO W. 

Looked with its agonized face on the multitude 
kneeling beneath it. 
1180 This was their rural chapel. Aloft, through the 
intricate arches 

Of its aerial roof, arose the chant of their vespers. 

Mingling its notes with the soft susurrus and sighs 
of the branches. 

Silent, with heads uncovered, the travellers, nearer 
ap23roaching, 

Knelt on the swarded floor, and joined in the even- 
ing devotions. 
U85 But when the service was done, and the benedic- 
tion had fallen 

Forth from the hands of the priest, like seed from 
the hands of the sower, 

Slowly the reverend man advanced to the strangers, 
and bade them 

Welcome ; and when they replied, he smiled with 
benignant expression. 

Hearing the homelike sounds of his mother-tongue 
in the forest, 
1190 And, with words of kindness, conducted them into 
his wigwam. 

There upon mats and skins they reposed, and on 
cakes of the maize-ear 

Feasted, and slaked their thirst from the water- 
gourd of the teacher. 

Soon was their story told ; and the priest with so- 
lemnity answered : — 

"Not six suns have risen and set since Gabriel, 
seated 
1199 On this mat by my side, where now the maiden re- 
poses, 



EVANGELINE. 91 

Told me this same sad tale ; then arose and contin- 
ued his journey ! " 

Soft was the voice of the priest, and he spake with 
an accent of kindness ; 

But on Evangeline's heart fell his words as in win- 
ter the snow-flakes 

Fall into some lone nest from which the birds have 
departed. 
1200 " Far to the north he has gone," continued the 
priest ; " but in autumn, 

When the chase is done, will return again to the 
Mission." 

Then Evangeline said, and her voice was meek and 
submissive, 

" Let me remain with thee, for my soul is sad and 
afflicted." 

So seemed it wise and well unto all ; and betimes 
on the morrow, 
1205 Mounting his Mexican steed, with his Indian guides 
and companions. 

Homeward Basil returned, and Evangeline stayed 
at the Mission. 

Slowly, slowly, slowly the days succeeded each 

other, — 
Days and weeks and months; and the fields of 

maize that were springing 
Green from the ground when a stranger she came, 

now waving above her, 
1210 Lifted their slender shafts, with leaves interlacing, 

and forming 
Cloisters for mendicant crows and granaries pillaged 

by squirrels. 



92 LONGFELLO W. 

Then in the golden weather the maize was husked, 

and the maidens 
Blushed at each blood-red ear, for that betokened a 

lover, 
But at the crooked laughed, and called it a thief in 

the corn-field. 
1215 Even the blood-red ear to Evangeline brought not 

her lover. 
" Patience ! " the priest would say ; " have faith, 

and thy prayer will be answered ! 
Look at this vigorous plant that lifts its head from 

the meadow, 
See how its leaves are turned to the north, as true 

as the magnet ; 
It is the compass-flower, that the finger of God has 

planted 
1220 Here in the houseless wild, to direct the traveller's 

journey 
Over the sea-like, pathless, limitless waste of the 

desert. 
Such in the soul of man is faith. The blossoms of 

passion. 
Gay and luxuriant flowers, are brighter and fuller 

of fragrance. 
But they beguile us, and lead us astray, and their 

odor is deadly. 
1225 Only this humble jDlant can guide us here, and here- 
after 
Crown us with asphodel flowers, that are wet with 

the dews of nepenthe." 

1219. Silphiam laciniatum or compass-plant is found on the prairies of 
Michigan and Wisconsin and to the south and west, and is said to present the 
edges of the lower leaves due north and south. 

1226. In early Greek poetry the asphodel meadows were haunted by the 



EVANGELINE. 93 

So came the autumn, and passed, and the wmter, 
— yet Gabriel came not ; 

Blossomed the opening spring, and the notes of the 
robin and bluebird 

Sounded sweet upon wold and in wood, yet Gabriel 
came not. 
1230 But on the breath of the summer winds a rumor 
was wafted 

Sweeter than song of bird, or hue or odor of blos- 
som. 

Far to the north and east, it said, in the Michigan 
forests, 

Gabriel had liis lodge by the banks of the Saginaw 
River. 

And, with returning guides, that sought the lakes of 
St. Lawrence, 
1235 Saying a sad farewell, Evangeline went from the 
Mission. 

"When over weary ways, by long and perilous 
marches, 

She had attained at length the depths of the Mich- 
igan forests. 

Found she the hunter's lodge deserted and fallen to 
ruin ! 

Thus did the long sad years glide on, and in sea- 
sons and places 
1240 Divers and distant far was seen the wandering 
maideh ; — 

shades of heroes. See Homer's Odyssey, xxiv. 13, where Pope trans- 
" In ever flowering meads of asphodel." 

The asphodel is of the lily family, and is known also by the name king's 
spear. 



94 LONGFELLOW. 

Now in the Tents of Grace of the meek Moravian 

Missions, 
Now in the noisy camps and the battle-fields of the 

army, 
Now in secluded hamlets, in towns and populous 

cities. 
Like a phantom she came, and j^assed away unre- 

membered. 
1245 Fair was she and young, when in hope began the 

long journey ; 
Faded was she and old, when in disa23j)ointment it 

ended. 
Each succeeding year stole something away from 

her beauty, 
Leaving behind it, broader and deeper, the gloom 

and the shadow. 
Then there appeared and spread faint streaks of 

gray o'er her forehead, 
1250 Dawn of another life, that broke o'er her earthly 

horizon. 
As in the eastern sky the first faint streaks of the 

morning. 

V. 

In that delightful land which is washed by the Del- 
aware's waters. 
Guarding in sylvan shades the name of Penn the 

apostle, 
Stands on the banks of its beautiful stream the city 
he founded. 
1255 There all the air is balm, and the peach is the em- 
blem of beauty, 

1241. A rendering of the Moravian Gnadenhutten. 



EVANGELINE. 95 

And the streets still reecho the names of the trees 
of the forest, 

As if they fain would ajDpease the Dryads whose 
haunts they molested. 

There from the troubled sea had Evangeline landed, 
an exile, 

Finding among the children of Penn a home and a 
country. 
1260 There old Rene Leblanc had died ; and when he 
departed. 

Saw at his side only one of all his hundred descend- 
ants. 

Something at least there was in the friendly streets 
of the city, 

Something that spake to her heart, and made her 
no longer a stranger ; 

And her ear was pleased with the Thee and Thou 
of the Quakers, 
1265 For it recalled the past, the old Acadian country, 

Where all men were equal, and all were brothers 
and sisters. 

So, when the fruitless search, the disappointed en- 
deavor. 

Ended, to recommence no more upon earth, uncom- 
plaining. 

Thither, as leaves to the light, were turned her 
thoughts and her footsteps. 
1270 As from a mountain's top the rainy mists of the 
morning 

Roll away, and afar we behold the landscape be- 
low us, 

1256. The streets of Philadelphia, as is well known, are many of them, 
especially those running east and west, named for trees, as Chestnut, Wal- 
nut, Locust, Spruce, Pine, etc. 



96 LONGFELLOW. 

Sun-illumined, with sliining rivers and cities and 

hamlets, 
So fell the mists from her mind, and she saw the 

world far below her, 
Dark no longer, hut all illumined with love ; and 

the pathway 
1275 Which she had climbed so far, lying smooth and 

fair in the distance. 
Gabriel was not forgotten. Within her heart was 

his image, 
Clothed in the beauty of love and youth, as last 

she beheld him, 
Only more beautiful made by his deatlilike silence 

and absence. 
Into her thoughts of liim time entered not, for it 

was not. 
1280 Over him years had no power ; he was not changed, 

but transfigured ; 
He had become to her heart as one who is dead, 

and not absent ; 
Patience and abnegation of self, and devotion to 

others. 
This was the lesson a life of trial and sorrow had 

taught her. 
So was her love diffused, but, like to some odorous 

spices, 
1285 Suffered no waste nor loss, though filling the air 

with aroma. 
Other hope had she none, nor wish in life, but to 
Meekly foUow, with reverent steps, the sacred feet 

of her Saviour. 
Thus many years she lived as a Sister of Mercy ; 

frequenting 



EVANGELINE. 97 

Lonely and wretched roofs in the crowded lanes of 

the city, 
1290 Where distress and want concealed themselves from 

the sunlight, 
Where disease and sorrow in garrets languished 

neglected. 
Night after night, when the world was asleep, as 

the watchman repeated 
Loud, through the gusty streets, that all was well 

in the city. 
High at some lonely window he saw the light of 

her taper. 
1295 Day after day, in the gray of the dawn, as slow 

through the suburbs 
Plodded the German farmer, with flowers and 

fruits for the market. 
Met he that meek, pale face, returning home from 

its watchings. 

Then it came to pass that a pestilence fell on 
the city, 
Presaged by wondrous signs, and mostly by flocks 
of wild pigeons, 
1300 Darkening the sun in their flight, with naught in 
their craws but an acorn. 
And, as the tides of the sea arise in the month of 

September, 
Flooding some silver stream, till it spreads to a lake 
in the meadow, 

1298. The year 1793 was long remembered as the year when yellow fever 
was a terrible pestilence in Philadelphia. Charles Brockden Brown made his 
novel of Arthur Mervyn turn largely upon the incidents of the plague, 
which drove Brown away from home for a time. 
7 



98 LONGFELLOW. 

So death flooded life, and, o'erflowing its natural 
margin. 

Spread to a brackish lake, the silver stream of ex- 
istence. 
1305 Wealth had no power to bribe, nor beauty to charm, 
the oppressor ; 

But all perished alike beneath the scourge of his 
anger ; — 

Only, alas ! the poor, who had neither friends nor 
attendants, 

Crept away to die in the almshouse, home of the 
homeless. 

Then in the suburbs it stood, in the midst of 
meadows and woodlands ; — 
1310 Now the city surrounds it ; but still, with its gate- 
way and wicket 

Meek, in the midst of splendor, its humble walls 
seem to echo 

Softly the words of the Lord : — " The poor ye al- 
ways have with you." 

Thither, by night and by day, came the Sister of 
Mercy. The dying 

Looked up into her face, and thought, indeed, to 
behold there 
1315 Gleams of celestial light encircle her forehead with 
splendor, 

Such as the artist paints o'er the brows of saints 
and apostles. 

Or such as hangs by night o'er a city seen at a 
distance. 

1308. Philadelphians have identified the old Friends' almshouse on Walnut 
Street, now no longer standing, as that in which Evangeline ministered to 
Gabriel, and so real was the story that some even ventured to point out the 
graves of the two lovers. See Westcott's The Historic Ilansions of Phila- 
delphia, pp. 101, 102. 



EVANGELINE. 99 

Unto their eyes it seemed the lamps of the city 

celestial, 
Into whose shining gates erelong their spirits would 

enter. 

1320 Thus, on a Sabbath morn, through the streets, de- 
serted and silent. 

Wending her quiet way, she entered the door of the 
almshouse. 

Sweet on the summer air was the odor of flowers 
in the garden, 

And she paused on her way to gather the fairest 
among them. 

That the dying once more might rejoice in their 
fragrance and beauty. 
1325 Then, as she momited the stairs to the corridors, 
cooled by the east-wind. 

Distant and soft on her ear fell the chimes from 
the belfry of Christ Church, 

While, intermingled with these, across the meadows 
were wafted 

Sounds of psalms, that were sung by the Swedes in 
their church at Wicaco. 

Soft as descending wings fell the calm of the hour 
on her spirit ; 
1330 Something within her said, " At length thy trials 
are ended ; " 

And, with light in her looks, she entered the cham- 
bers of sickness. 

1328. The Swedes' church at Wicaco is still standing, the oldest in the city 
of Philadelphia, having been begun in 1698. Wicaco is within the city on the 
banks of the Delaware River. An interesting account of the old church and 
its historic associations will be foimd in Westcott's book just mentioned, pp. 
5G-67. Wilson the ornithologist lies buried in the churchyard adjoining the 
church. 



100 LONGFELLO W. 

Noiselessly moved about the assiduous, careful at- 
tendants, 

Moistening the feverish lip, and the aching brow, 
and in silence 

Closing the sightless eyes of the dead, and conceal- 
ing their faces, 
1335 Where on their pallets they lay, like drifts of snow 
by the roadside. 

Many a languid head, upraised as Evangeline en- 
tered. 

Turned on its pillow of pain to gaze while she 
passed, for her presence 

Fell on their hearts like a ray of the sun on the 
walls of a prison. 

And, as she looked around, she saw how Death, the 
consoler, 
1340 Laying his hand upon many a heart, had healed it 
forever. 

Many familiar forms had disapj^eared in the night 
time ; 

Vacant their places were, or filled already by 
strangers. 

Suddenly, as if arrested by fear or a feeling of 
wonder. 

Still she stood, with her colorless lips apart, while a 
shudder 
1345 Ran through her frame, and, forgotten, the flow- 
erets dropped from her fingers, 

And from her eyes and cheeks the light and bloom 
of the morning. 

Then there escaped from her lips a cry of such 
terrible anouish, 



EVANGELINE. 101 

That the dying heard it, and started up from their 

pillows. 
On the pallet before her was stretched the form of 

an old man. 
1350 Long, and thin, and gray were the locks that shaded 

his temples ; 
But, as he lay in the morning light, his face for a 

moment 
Seemed to assume once more the forms of its ear- 
lier manhood ; 
So are wont to be changed the faces of those who 

are dying. 
Hot and red on liis lips still burned the flush of the 

fever, 
1355 As if life, like the Hebrew, with blood had be- 
sprinkled its portals. 
That the Angel of Death might see the sign, and 

pass over. 
Motionless, senseless, dying, he lay, and his spirit 

exhausted 
Seemed to be sinking down through infinite depths 

in the darkness, 
Darkness of slumber and death, forever sinking and 

sinking. 
1350 Then through those realms of shade, in multiplied 

reverberations. 
Heard he that cry of pain, and through the hush 

that succeeded 
Whispered a gentle voice, in accents tender and 
^ saint-like, 

" Gabriel ! O my beloved ! " and died away into 

silence. 
Then he beheld, in a dream, once more the home of 

his childhood ; 



102 LONGFELLOW. 

1365 Green Acadian meadows, with sylvan rivers among 
them, 

Village, and mountain, and woodlands ; and, walk- 
ing under their shadow, 

As in the days of her youth, Evangeline rose in his 
vision. 

Tears came into his eyes ; and as slowly he lifted 
his eyelids. 

Vanished the vision away, but Evangeline knelt by 
his bedside. 
1370 Vainly he strove to whisper her name, for the ac- 
cents unuttered 

Died on his lips, and their motion revealed what 
his tongue would have sj)oken. 

Vainly he strove to rise ; and Evangeline, kneeling 
beside him. 

Kissed his dying lips, and laid his head on her 
bosom. 

Sweet was the light of his eyes ; but it suddenly 
sank mto darkness, 
1376 As when a lamp is blown out by a gust of wind at 
a casement. 

All was ended now, the hope, and the fear, and 
the sorrow, 

All the aching of heart, the restless, unsatisfied 
longing. 

All the dull, deep pain, and constant anguish of 
patience ! 

And, as she pressed once more the lifeless head to 
her bosom, 
1380 Meekly she bowed her own, and murmured, " Fa- 
ther, I thank thee ! " 



EVANGELINE. 103 

Still stands the forest primeval ; but far away from 
its shadow, 

Side by side, in their nameless graves, the lovers are 
sleeping. 

Under the humble walls of the little Catholic 
churchyard, 

In the heart of the city, they lie, unknown and un- 
noticed. 
1385 Daily the tides of life go ebbing and flowing beside 
them, 

Thousands of throbbing hearts, where theirs are at 
rest and forever, 

Thousands of aching brains, where theirs no longer 
are busy, 

Thousands of toiling hands, where theirs have 
ceased from their labors. 

Thousands of weary feet, where theirs have com- 
pleted their journey ! 

1390 Still stands the forest primeval ; but under the 

shade of its branches 
Dwells another race, with other customs and lan- 
guage. 
Only along the shore of the mournful and misty 

Atlantic 
Linger a few Acadian peasants, whose fathers from 

exile 
Wandered back to their native land to die in its 

bosom. 
1395 In the fisherman's cot the wheel and the loom are 

still busy ; 
Maidens still wear their Norman caps and their 

kirtles of homespun, 



104 LONGFELLOW. 

And by the evening fire repeat Evangeline's story, 
While from its rocky caverns the deep-voiced, 

neighboring ocean 
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the 
wail of the forest. 



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Ultima Tkule 1.00 

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Outre Mer 1 50 

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lustrated 3.00 

The Same. 12 Illustrations 1.50 

The Building ofthe Ship. Illus- 
trated 2.00 



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Ci^e Eitemne Literature ^erie^s* 

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EACH NUMBER 15 CENTS. 

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1. Longfellow's Evangeline. 

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